Four Wild Hearts
by Wolf of the Black Rose
Summary: Briar, Dimetri, and Torrey are given bigger roles. They'll join the adventure, all while finding love in the process.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys, we're back! This is an idea that got into my head a few years ago. I thought I'd give three minor characters a bigger role in the story.**

 **Sakura: Which one's?**

 **Briar, Dimitri, and Torrey. They're also going to be Jaden's hometown best friends. Briar's going to have another stem for his lack of confidence besides his height, Dimitri's going to have an all original deck because his friends got tired of him copying other duelists, and Torrey's going to have a rich kid's life that he tries not to associate with. Also, Jaden's going to be a little smarter in this one and there are also going to be a couple of minor OC characters to help move the plot along. So basically, it's the main plot with these three having a bigger impact.**

 **Caden: Wolf doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the characters. She just owns her OC's and the idea. Also, cards by Princessanime08 and Lightclaw's Shadow will be used so creative rights got to them.**

 **(bowing) I worship the ground they walk on!**

 **Caden: (sweatdrop) Anyway, here's chapter one. Enjoy! Also, there will be yaoi in future chapters, so you've been warned.**

Chapter 1: A New Chapter Begins

Domino City. Home to some of the best duelists in the world, like Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, and Joey Wheeler. It's also home to the Kaiba Dome, where entrance exams for the prestigious Duel Academy are held. All young duelists go to see if they have what it takes to get _in_ , let alone to be the best.

Speaking of which, one young duelist was on his way there now. He was about fifteen with short, almost puffy brown hair with a lighter brown patch on the top and brown eyes. He was wearing a black jacket left open over a red t-shirt, black pants, and red and white running shoes. His name was Jaden Yuki and he was running a bit late while cursing the best friends who forgot to come get him.

"Alright, I've got my deck, I've got my gear, and I've got about two minutes to get to the Duel Academy entry exams before they start!" Jaden panted as he ran. "Oh well, at least since I'm not a student yet, they can't throw me in detention hall for being late."

He kept running, weaving between pedestrians as he ran, trying to avoid hitting anyone. What he didn't see a familiar looking man with spiky, tri-colored hair and an old Domino High uniform walking in front of him until it was too late to stop properly.

"Heads up!" Jaden called, trying to stop anyway.

Unfortunately, he ended up colliding with the man, falling backwards and having his cards scatter all over the ground.

"Sorry!" He said quickly, turning to pick up his cards.

The man looked at him a moment before speaking. "You're a duelist, aren't you?"

Jaden turned to answer as he got all his cards picked up. "Yup, I'm just going to try out for the academy. I'm running a bit late because my friends forgot to come get me."

The man smiled, reaching into his deck case. "You don't say."

"Yeah." Jaden laughed lightly, getting up, feeling slightly sheepish.

Then he finally took a good look at the man. "Hey, you're-" before he could finish he was interrupted.

"Why don't you take this? Something just tells me that it belongs with you." The King of Games said, giving Jaden a card.

"For real?" He asked, almost not believing it. Here was Yugi Muto, giving him a card from his own deck.

As he stared at the card, Yugi started walking away. "Good luck."

"Oh, hey, wait!" Jaden called out.

"Thank you! I'll make you proud!" He promised, bowing in respect.

Yugi stopped for a moment. Then, he turned to Jaden and smiled, giving his signature thumbs up before starting on his way again.

Jaden stared after him, feeling like a total fanboy. Then, he finally took a look at the card he was given.

It looked like Yugi's Kuriboh, only it also had little white wings. The monster was called Winged Kuriboh and it had a pretty handy effect.

Suddenly, he heard a soft ' _coo'_ sound, startling him.

' _What was that?'_ He wondered, looking around for the source of the noise.

As he did, he caught sight of a clock and noticed the time. "Uh oh! The exams!"

Jaden took off again, sliding the Winged Kuriboh card into his deck case. "I can't be the next King of Games if I'm late to the games!"

 _Kaiba Dome_

The dome was huge and full of duelists. Some were already students, checking out the incoming competition. Others were hopeful applicants ready to try out for Duel Academy.

" _Once again, all Duel Academy applicants who passed their entrance exams, please report to registration. For those who haven't, better luck next year."_ Came a monotone voice over the PA system.

' _Yes, and have fun at Duel Monster Community College.'_ Thought a very a snide individual sitting with the teachers.

The person in question had long blond hair in a ponytail, beady little eyes, and pale skin. Even sitting down, he was a tall and skinny man. While the text says male, that's questionable because he was wearing purple _lipstick_ and his teacher's uniform was a long blue coat with _pink ruffles_ on the edges.

His name's Dr. Crowler, head of the Obelisk Blue dorm and vice chancellor of Duel Academy. He was _not_ a nice person.

On one of the duel fields, a proctor was able to summon a purple, caterpillar like creature that was able to attack his opponent directly. Said opponent was a kid on the short side with light blue hair, silver eyes and glasses, and wearing a blue school uniform.

' _Oh man, I can barely concentrate with all these academy kids staring at me, judging me. What I wouldn't give to already be enrolled in the school like they are.'_

Sitting up in the stands on the left side of the arena was a trio of boys who had finished their tests and decided to stay and watch the rest.

The first boy was Briar Grace. He was the shortest of the group with green hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a blue hooded shirt with sleeves that only reached his elbows, blue jeans, and brown shoes. At the moment, he was more interested in his book then any of the other duels.

The second boy, sitting next to Briar, was Dimitri Valdez. He had spiked brown hair with light brown edges and three bangs framing his brown eyes. He was wearing a black, v-neck t-shirt, gray cargo shorts, and gray sneakers with crimson accents. He was watching the duels with a smirk, like he was hoping to duel them all later.

The last boy, who was standing at the rail behind them, was Torrey McLean. He was the tallest of the group with shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes with glasses. He was the most best dressed of the group, wearing a blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows under a black vest, black pants, black shoes, silver wristbands, and a silver ring on his right middle finger. He was watching the duels with a neutral expression.

"So, what do you guys think of the competition?" Torrey asked, tired of the silence.

Briar looked up from his book. "They're all pretty good."

"Yeah," Dimitri added, still smirk. "We actually may have some decent opponents for once."

"You mean besides each other?" Torrey joked, getting a laugh from the others.

They went back to watching the duels for a moment, when a thought came over Briar. "Hey, does it feel like we're forgetting something?"

"Now that you mention it…" Dimitri trailed off, going into thought.

Torrey was thinking the same thing with a 'hmm'.

Suddenly, it came to them all at the same time. "Where's Jaden?"

Meanwhile, outside at the front desk, there were two women in Ra yellow girls' uniforms and a man in a dark suit and glasses sitting at a table waiting for any late arrivals. The man looked at his watch before coming to a decision.

"Okay, ladies, that's it. Mark all the no shows, no shows." They started to pack up, but stopped when they heard a voice call out from a nearby railing.

"Wait! I'm no no show!" They turned just in time to see a certain brunette pull himself up into view.

"You can count Jaden Yuki as present, thank you!" He greeted with a smile, flashing a peace sign. "Well, so long as I don't lose my grip!"

Back inside, the boy with blue hair was done with his match and watching the other duels, when Jaden appeared beside him, almost knocking him over. "Alright, look at them go!"

A duel that stuck out was one with a boy about his age with black hair and a white school uniform.

On the proctor's side of the field was a Gear Golem the Moving Fortress (800/2200) and a Big Shield Guardna (100/2600), both in defense mode. On the teen's side of the field was a Vorse Raider (1900/1200) in attack mode and a face down.

"Alright, new guy," the proctor said. "Multiple choice; you have two monsters staring you down, do you A: throw in the towel, B: beg for mercy, or C: run home to mama?"

"I'll go with D: none of the above!" The boy declared as his facedown activated.

"A trap?!" The proctor exclaimed.

"Exactly," The boy said smiling. "You see, with Ring of Destruction I can destroy any monster that's in attack mode and then we both take damage equal to that monster's attack points."

A ring of red bombs appeared around Vorse Raider's neck and exploded, dropping the boy's life points to 1300 and the proctor's life points to zero.

"Clever move, applicant," The proctor praised. "Welcome to the academy."

"Thank you, oh wise proctor." He bowed, speaking dryly.

Up in the stands, three boys in Obelisk uniforms watched the boy's duel intently.

"Wow, that guy's pretty good, don't ya think, Chazz?" The boy with blue hair and glasses, Torimaki, said.

"Guess the rumors about him being some kind of whiz kid are true, huh Chazz, huh?" The other boy with spiky brown hair, Raizou, added.

"He's a punk," The person they were talking to, a spiky black haired boy named Chazz, responded. "We went to Duel Prep School for the past three years, we're ready for the academy. These kids don't know what they're getting into, but they'll learn, the hard way, the Chazz Princeton way."

Meanwhile, Jaden and our blue haired friend were in another part of the dome talking about that last duel.

"Wow, that last guy really tore it up." He commented.

The blue haired boy turned to him. "Yeah, Bastion Misawa; they say he got one of the highest scores out of all us applicants. The other being Briar Grace."

"Wow, I was told I got a passing grade." Jaden mused.

"I just barely passed. I'm Syrus by the way, nice to meet ya," Syrus looked somewhat depressed. "I kinda have this thing where I get test anxiety, I don't know how I won my match."

"So, you're in!" Jaden exclaimed, slapping Syrus on the back, startling the boy. "Congratulations, I'll be in, too, just as soon as I win my duel."

"Wait, you haven't duel yet?" Syrus asked, confused at how Jaden was so happy in the current situation.

"Nope." Jaden replied, still psyched but suspicion was starting to gnaw at him.

"Then you might have a problem, I think this was supposed to be the last duel." Syrus explained.

Jaden face planted on the rail, then looked up with a dark look on his face.

"I'm going to kill those three." He said with a deadly calm, scaring Syrus a little.

"We tried to wake you, fifteen times each. Didn't you check your phone?" Came a voice beside them.

Both boys turned to see Torrey standing there, having come over when he saw Jaden come in.

Jaden gave him a look. "Do I ever leave my phone on or take it everywhere with me?"

"Touche." Torrey answered.

He then noticed Syrus standing there, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Hi, I'm Torrey McLean."

"I'm Syrus."

Torrey smiled, then turned back to Jaden. "Don't worry, Bro, I'm sure you'll get a shot."

Jaden smiled. Torrey always knew the right words to say.

The faculty was sitting in another part of the arena. The teachers were talking about the new duelists as Bastion left the field.

"Looks like we've got a pretty good crop this year."

"Yes, indeed."

Dr. Crowler was about to get up and leave when…

"I'm sorry to interrupt," The man from out front came up to them. "But one last applicant has arrived to take his exam, Mr. Crowler."

"Did you just call me, 'mister'?" Crowler asked with a slight scowl.

"I'm sorry, I'm new here, Miss…"

"I have a PhD in dueling to earn the title 'doctor', thank you," Crowler interrupted him and then looked away. "Now, tell the truant that he'll have to come back next year."

The other teachers looked at him like he was a tyrant.

"Come on, Dr. Crowler, we have time for one more."

"Yes, let's give this duelist his shot."

"He was just a bit late, what's the harm."

Crowler was annoyed when they started pleading, but that last comment sent him over the edge.

"LATE IS RUDE!" He snapped, startling everyone in the booth. "I have no time for slackers!"

Before he could rant further, his cellphone went off. "Yes, and who may I ask is calling…?"

" _It's Sheppard."_ Answered the voice on the other end.

"Ah, Chancellor Sheppard, how nice of you to call." Crowler greeted in a pleasant tone.

" _Just calling to make sure everything's running smoothly, Crowler,"_ The chancellor said. " _We wouldn't want a repeat of what happened last year."_

That caused Crowler to look uneasy as he remembered.

" _When you cut a third of our applicants for some ridiculous reason. What was it, calling you mister or missus? Never mind, just make sure that everyone gets a fair shot."_

"Yes, of course," Crowler said before hanging up the phone with a scowl. "Furry-chinned windbag!"

' _Doesn't he realize there are enough talentless flunkies at this academy? But he's the boss, and if he wants to give this scrim shaker a duel, fine.'_ He got up from his seat. "Pardon me, gentlemen, I'll be right back."

"Wait," One of the teachers spoke up, picking up a box of different decks. "Who will be the boy's dueling proctor and which exam deck shall we use?"

Crowler just huffed and walked away. "Leave _that_ to me."

Back with the boys, Bastion had made his way up to the stands and sat down in the row in front of them.

"Tight duel, Bastion." Jaden praised him, catching the boy's attention.

"Thanks." He said, modestly.

"From where I stand, you might just be the second best duelist here." Jaden stated, catching Bastion by surprise.

Before he could ask anything, the PA system came on. " _Jaden Yuki, please report to exam field four."_

"Go time!" Jaden exclaimed, getting up to leave. "Wish me luck, guys!"

Torrey gave him a thumbs up as he left, Jaden acknowledging it with a nod. He didn't get very far before Bastion stopped him.

"Wait," Jaden turned to him. "If I'm second best, who's first?"

Jaden smirked. "Your's truly. It's what I'm best at."

Torrey just smiled and shook his head at his friend's less than modest answer.

"Wow, he's so sure of himself," Syrus murmured, amazed. "I wonder if he's really that good?"

"He is, trust me on that." Torrey answered.

He had first hand knowledge on how good Jaden really was, since he was one of only a small number of people who could beat him.

"He's going to need to be," Bastion inputted, looking at the field. "Look who he's dueling."

Torrey looked at the opponent. "Who's she?"

Bastion grew a bit uncomfortable. " _He_ is Dr. Crowler. He's in charge of the exams and the head of Duel Academy's top dorm."

"That's a guy?" Torrey deadpanned, looking a little creeped out.

This got a chuckle out of Bastion. "Very. Also, congratulations on winning your match."

"Thanks!" Torrey replied. "I'm going to go sit over with my friends. You guys wanna come?"

The boys nodded and they headed over to where Dimitri and Briar were waiting. "Hey, guys, I'm back, and we've got company!"

After introductions were done, everyone settled down and waited for the duel to start. Bastion sat next to Dimitri while Syrus circled around and sat next to Briar.

Briar looked at Syrus over the top of his book, not realizing he was staring. When Syrus looked over at him, he turned back to his book, blushing a little as he did.

Dimitri looked over at Bastion and they both shared a small smile.

None of this went unnoticed by Torrey, who smirked. ' _Well, well, well, what do we have here? It's about time those two found someone, but this is something for another day.'_

Down on the duel field, Crowler was prepping his duel vest as Jaden came up on a platform opposite of him, looking around like a kitten in a new place.

"All right, test time!" Crowler said, looking at Jaden with confidence. "So, son, your name?"

Jaden turned and stood at attention like a soldier. "Jaden, Jaden Yuki."

"Well, Jaden Yuki, I'm Doctor Vellian Crowler, Department Chair and Techniques Professor here at Duel Academy." Crowler introduced himself with pride dripping from his voice.

"Oh, you're a teacher," Jaden said, rubbing the back of his head, embarrassed. "From how you were dressed, I thought you were the school mascot."

He laughed slightly at that. Crowler just sweatdropped at that. Dimitri, Torrey, and Briar laughed, knowing Jaden would be the only one to say that out loud. Syrus and Bastion just looked at them weirdly.

"Now that he mentions it…" Torimaki said.

"That guy's got some lip, huh Chazz?" asked Raizou.

Chazz was not pleases with what Jaden was saying down there.

Crowler activated what he called his duel vest and drew his opening hand. Jaden was amazed by the machinery, thinking it looked cool.

"That's some impressive gear you have there." He commented.

"Well, thank you." Crowler said, though he didn't really mean it.

"Well, I'm ready! Time to throw down!" Jaden said excitedly, activating his duel disk and drawing his opening hand.

"Duel!"

Crowler: 4000

Jaden: 4000

"Here goes." Jaden said as he drew his first card. He looked over his hand and smiled.

"Sweet, I'm gonna summon Elemental Hero Avian in defense mode!" A green bird man appeared and knelt down in a defense position (1000/1000).

"Then, I'll throw down a facedown." A facedown card appeared behind the monster.

"Looks like Jaden's going for the old scout and report tactic." Dimitri observed.

"Huh?" Syrus asked.

"He means Jaden's going to play a defensive strategy his first turn in order to see how his opponent plays." Briar explained, blushing slightly when he saw Syrus staring at him.

"And it's hard to use that deck properly," Torrey added. "It relies heavily on fusion monsters and takes more strategy than most people think. Jaden's been perfecting that deck for years now."

"Alright, Teach, get your game on!" Jaden said excitedly.

"Yes, of course. Don't tell me what to do!" Dr. Crowler muttered as he drew his card. ' _After all since I'm using my own personal deck rather than one of those puny test decks, I'll be calling all the shots. I'll fail this miserable little brat and send him home in no time.'_

He grinned when he saw the cards in his hand. "I think I'll start out nice and easy, by playing the spell card Confiscation!"

"Okay, so what's it do?" Jaden asked, starting to get nervous.

"What it does is allow me to pay 1000 life points to take a look at your hand and then send one of your cards to the graveyard."

As he was explaining, Jaden's hand started glowing, startling him. Then, holographic images of those cards appeared in front of Crowler. They were Monster Reborn, Polymerization, The Warrior Returning Alive, and Hero Signal.

"Ah yes, I remember some of these back from when _I_ was a naive rookie." This comment caused Jaden to growl, but Crowler didn't notice.

"Now which one of these shall I banish?" He looked at each card carefully before making a decision. "Monster Reborn to the graveyard!"

"Next, I'll set two cards face down," Two facedowns appeared in front of Crowler and then he held up one more care. "And last, but not least, I play Heavy Storm! This spell destroys every other spell and trap card that's out on the field."

A powerful wind picked up and Jaden's facedown, Draining Shield, was destroyed along with Crowler's two facedowns.

Jaden caught that.

"Whoopsie, did you forget that you had two cards out on the field as well?" He asked, teasingly.

"Now, now, you mustn't speak out-of-turn, young scholar." Crowler countered, as dark clouds started to form on his side of the field.

"Hey, what's happening?" The brunette asked nervously.

"Nothing's happening," Crowler said dismissively. "Not yet!"

Just as he said that last part, two gold, dragon-worm-like creatures appeared on his side of the field. "But that's about to change."

The audience was amazed by the two creatures, but Syrus was confused. "Could someone tell me what's going on?"

"Those two facedowns that Dr. Crowler had out were called Statue of the Wicked," Bastion explained as he observed the duel. "It's a special trap that creates a vicious monster token when it's destroyed by a card effect. That's why he played Heavy Storm."

"Speaking of Heavy Storm, I don't think that's a test deck." Torrey deduced, suspiciously.

"Why's that?" Syrus asked.

"Of course! And that goes the same for a card like Confiscation; they're both rare cards that can change the tide of the battle without any serious costs!" Bastion realized.

"Meaning?" Dimitri asked, not liking where this was going.

"That's probably his real deck!" Briar answered, worried for his friend.

They weren't the only ones who came to that conclusion.

"A card that strong couldn't be in one of the test decks, Crowler must be using his own." Torimaki realized.

"Then this duel's over," Raizou said. "No one can beat the deck of an expert like Dr. Crowler."

"Yeah, it's impossible, don't ya think, Chazz?"

"Yeah, what do you think, Chazz?"

Chazz smirked. "I think I'm going to enjoy watching Crowler wipe the floor with our mouthy little friend down there. I just wish he had treated all the other second-rate duelists that applied to the academy the same way."

Two other duelists were watching the duel, a boy and a girl.

The girl had long sandy blond hair and wore the female Obelisk uniform. Her name was Alexis Rhodes.

The boy was a little taller than her, had dark blue hair, and wore the third year Obelisk uniform. His name was Zane Truesdale, Duel Academy's top student.

"What an elitist snob," Alexis said. "Bullying some ameteur with his very best cards."

"You're too soft, Alexis," Zane spoke, making said person look at him. "I just hope we get to see that legendary rare card Crowler has stashed away in that deck of his."

"Ready for your next lesson?" Crowler called to Jaden.

"You bet!" Jaden answered, excitement in his voice. "Bring it on!"

Crowler regarded this negatively. "Very well."

His tokens started to glow and writhe in flames. "Now, I sacrifice my two Wicked Tokens to summon the Ancient Gear Golem!"

In place of Crowler's tokens stood a gigantic robotic creature with the working gears clearly seen. Once again the audience was amazed at the sight of the monster, even morse so at its stats (3000/3000).

"There it is! That's his legendary rare card!" Alexis gasped.

Even Zane was impressed. "Now it looks like we're about to find out just what makes it so legendary."

"Whoa! That monster that could stand toe to toe with Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Dimitri shouted.

The other boys were just as astounded as he was.

"Now, now, I hope you're not too scared of my legendary Ancient Gear Golem." Crowler said sarcastically.

Jaden, however, wasn't scared at all. In fact, he was having a blast! "No way! I've always wanted to take on a monster this strong!"

This shocked everyone, including Syrus. "Either Jaden's brave or he's nuts!"

"Sometimes, we think he's both." Briar quipped, his book long forgotten.

"He's staring down that legendary rare monster like he doesn't have a care in the world," Zane said, incredulously. "I guess the youth and inexperience have their benefits."

"Give it a rest, Zane," Alexis said, getting tired of his attitude. "At least the kid's showing some backbone."

"There won't be much left to show after this." Zane retorted.

Dr. Crowler cackled as he gave his monster an order. "Golem attack! Mechanized Melee!"

His Ancient Gear Golem's single red eye glowed before pulling back its fist and pounded Avian into pixels.

"Oh man, Jaden's monster didn't stand a chance! Its defense points were way too low!" Syrus fretted as he watched the duel. "This doesn't look good."

"And it's about to get worse," Bastion said, remembering what he knew about the monster. "When Ancient Gear Golem attacks a monster in defense mode, the difference between it's attack points and the opposing monster's defense points are dealt to the opponent as damage."

"But that would mean Jaden's life points are gonna take a hit!" Syrus cried when he realized what was about to happen.

Sure enough, a transparent version of Ancient Gear Golem's fist slammed into Jaden body, causing him to fall to his knees.

Jaden: 2000

Crowler: 3000

Jaden's friends cringed at the blow.

"That had to hurt." Briar winced.

Syrus nodded in agreement.

"Jay's going to need to take off the kid gloves and step up his game if he wants to win." Dimitri said.

Crowler noticed Jaden was shaking as he got up.

"Now, now, don't feel bad," He taunted. "Not everyone has what it takes to get into the top dueling school in the country…"

Crowler trailed off when he realized that Jaden was laughing not crying.

"Good shot, Teach, but I don't go down easily!" He exclaimed, fire burning in his eyes.

This took Crowler by surprise before scowling angrily. ' _Doesn't he get it? He will_ not _be admitted into this school! And he will certainly not make a mockery of my deck!'_

' _Look at him tremble,'_ Jaden thought with a grin. ' _He's going to be shaking even more once I get serious!'_

As he went to draw his next card, he heard a faint 'coo' sound. He paused for a second before taking a look at what he got. He was surprised when he saw what it was.

It was the card he got this morning on the way there. He remembered what he was told, about this card belonging to him. ' _You know, I'm starting to think the same thing.'_

For a moment, he thought the card winked at him! He was shocked at first, but then made a decision. ' _I'm gonna take that as a sign to play ya.'_

"Okay, I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode!" He declared.

With that, a small, brown, furry creature with green paws and white wings appeared in front of the brunette (300/200).

"Next, I play a card face down. You ready for what's coming, Teach?" He finished as a card appeared behind the little furball.

"That's new." Torrey said, surprised by the appearance of the little creature.

"Where'd that little guy come from?" Dimitri wondered.

"He didn't have that card before?" Bastion asked.

They both shook their heads.

"Either way, Jaden's bought some time." Briar analyzed.

"What do you mean?" Syrus asked him.

Briar smiled slightly. "You'll see."

Crowler laughed at the play.

"Not bad, but I'm a master technician, you see," He taunted Jaden. "A Kuriboh is rather pedestrian to me, even one with wings you see. It's a textbook mistake, don't feel bad. Now let's proceed."

He drew his next card. "Now Ancient Gear Golem, attack that Kuriboh with Mechanized Melee!"

Again, the giant robot pulled back its fist and punched the tiny creature to pieces.

Jaden winced. ' _Sorry, Winged Kuriboh.'_

Dr. Crowler noticed Jaden's life point meter hadn't gone down. "Check your gear, your life points haven't changed."

Jaden smirked. "My gear's fine. On the turn Winged Kuriboh's destroyed, I take zero damage."

That got a surprise out of Crowler. Even some of the audience was surprised by the turn of events.

"How 'bout that, a technique the good doctor didn't know." Alexis stated, almost sarcastically.

"No one can be expected to know every technique, Alexis," Zane argued in a scolding tone. "Especially one as obscure as that."

"Yeah, well that kid sure knew it." Alexis countered.

Dimitri, Torrey, and Briar laughed at Crowler's reaction.

"People really need to stop underestimating Kuribohs!" Briar said.

"Amen there, brother!" Dimitri agreed, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"Fine, fine, so I guess your lame little monster saved your there." Crowler taunted.

"Hey!" Jaden snapped. "Just because you beat him doesn't give you the right to call him lame, Teach!"

"Oh yes, I forgot how attached you new duelists get to your monsters," Crowler taunted again. "I'm sorry."

"Shouldn't have said that." Torrey muttered.

Syrus looked at him, wondering what he meant.

"One thing you never do is insult Jaden's cards. He will lash out at you in a big way." Briar explained, seeing Syrus' look.

"You should be," Jaden said. "Because by attacking Winged Kuriboh you set off my trap, one of my favorites too. Hero Signal!"

His trap activated, causing a spotlight with a unique H to appear on the ceiling.

"Which lets me bring out my second Elemental Hero," He grabbed a card from his deck and slapped on the duel tray. "Let's go, Burstinatrix!"

Out of a column of flames, a gray-skinned woman in a red bodysuit appeared on the field with a twirl (1200/800).

As she landed, Jaden drew his card, starting his turn.

"My move!" He looked at the cards in his hand and made a plan. ' _Alright, Winged Kuriboh, this one's for you!'_

He put the card he drew in his hand and selected another card to play. "Time to get dangerous. First, I'll play the spell card The Warrior Returning Alive. This allows me to bring back a warrior monster from my graveyard to my hand and I choose Avian. And then I'll bring him back to field."

The card came out of the graveyard slot and Jaden then brought the winged hero back to the field to stand next to Burstinatrix.

"Oh, I see, another amateurish mistake, but this is good, this is good, now would anyone like to tell me what our little friend did wrong here…" Crowler taunted, but was cut off by Jaden again.

"Hey, I wasn't finished," He said, now thoroughly annoyed with this guy. "Yes, I know my two monsters by themselves aren't enough to take down your behemoth, but the true power of the Heroes comes from when they unite together!"

He then showed one of the last two cards in his hand to Crowler. "And I have just the card to do that! Go Polymerization! Heroes unite!"

The two heroes jumped up into the air and swirled together due to the effects of the card. After the two monsters were done, a new monster appeared that had the same color schemes as Avian and Burstinatrix. It also had one of Avian's wings. The only thing that either monster didn't have was the dragon like hand on the monster's right arm and a dragon like tail (2100/1200).

"Say 'hello' to Elemental Hero Flame Wingman! Hope your Golem's ready for a clash of the titans!"

"Looks like the duel's almost over." Briar said.

"How can you tell?" Syrus asked.

"This is one of Jaden's favorite finishers. If I'm right about what that last card is in his hand, Jaden will end the duel right now!" Torrey answered.

"So, Teach, what do think?" Jaden asked, with a smirk.

"I think you're dueling quite well for an ametur but next time try summoning a monster that has _more_ attack points than what's already out." Crowler said like he was disappointed, but he really didn't see the monster as a threat.

"What's he mean?" Syrus asked, looking at Jaden's monster.

"He means that the Flame Wingman's atk points are too low to defeat the Ancient Gear Golem," Bastion answered. "A shame too, because that Elemental Hero has a powerful ability. Whenever it destroys a monster in battle, the controller of that monster receives the original attack points of that monster as damage."

"Oh man, that would have been the perfect way for Jaden to turn this duel around." Syrus moaned.

"Chill, guys," Dimitri said, completely calm. "Jaden's fine."

"Alright, young scholar," Crowler said, almost exasperated. "I don't mean to rush you but I am a busy man...are you done yet?"

"Not even close!" Jaden replied. "And, yeah, I knew my Wingman had less attack points than your Golem."

He then placed the last card in his hand into slot for field spells on his disk. "That's why I'm activating this. A field spell called Skyscraper!"

After he played that card, buildings you would see in big cities like New York, literally started sprouting up on the field. In the middle of it, Crowler's Golem looked like a giant monster attacking the city. Jaden's Wingman was perched on the highest building's lightning rod with it's arms crossed.

The boys were anticipating his next move.

"Alright, Flame Wingman," Jaden called out. "Time to save the city!"

He pointed at the ancient robot. "Attack that Ancient Gear Golem with Skydive Scorcher!"

Flame Wingman jumped from the building it was standing on and dove towards Crowler's monster, weaving in and out between buildings.

"Fine by me, bring him on," Crowler said like he wasn't worried. "This silly little Skyscraper field spell hasn't lowered my Golem's attack by one point!"

Flame Wingman then landed on the ground in front of the Ancient Gear Golem before leaping up into the air again.

"That wasn't the plan. This is the Heroes' home turf," Jaden revealed, slyly. "What it's done is _raise_ my Hero's attack by a grand total of 1000 points!"

"Wait! Timeout!" Crowler cried, but it didn't stop Flame Wingman's attack as it launched itself at the Ancient Gear Golem, its body covered in flames (2100-3100/1200).

Crowler was freaking out as Jaden's monster slammed into his, making it burst to pieces.

"No, it can't be! He was best card!" He cried before being hit in the head by a piece of debris.

"Oh, by the way, you should probably know about my Wingman's special ability." Jaden said, his monster landing back in front of him. "When he destroys a monster in battle, the attack points of that monster gets dealt straight to your life points. Looks like I win, huh?"

"No way…" Crowler muttered.

Just as he said that, the remaining shell of Ancient Gear Golem fell on top of Crowler, despite trying to get out of the way.

Jaden: 2000

Crowler: 0

Jaden pointed his index and middle fingers at Crowler in a kind of salute.

"That's game!" He exclaimed. "So, I guess I pass the test, huh teach?"

As the holograms faded, a lot of people were stunned to see that Jaden had beat a teacher, who was using his real deck, in a duel.

Crowler was dumbfounded by the whole thing. He was beaten by an amateur who was also late.

"Impossible," He seethed. "There's no way that this delinquent could beat me!"

Up in the stands, Chazz and his flunkies were just as shocked.

"It must be dumb luck," Chazz muttered through clenched teeth. "No way Crowler would lose to some flunky!"

Alexis on the other hand was smiling at Jaden's win. "This kid's got a future here."

Zane just huffed and walked away.

Syrus was cheering for Jaden. "Yay! Way to play, Jay!"

"Now that was a true Jaden turn around!" Torrey noted, smirking at Jaden's win like it was his own.

"Heck yeah! Wish I had that kind of action during my duel!" Dimetri added.

Briar just laughed at his friend's antics.

' _Nice,'_ Bastion thought as he watched Jaden wave to the crowd. ' _I could use the competition.'_

Jaden waved to the crowd some more, then took out his new Winged Kuriboh card.

"We made it together," He said, smiling. "And from here on out, you and I will be partners."

Again, Jaden could have sworn the card winked at him and he was starting to believe this card may be more special than he had originally believed.

 _Later that night_

After the exams, Jaden, Torrey, Dimitri, and Briar said goodbye to Syrus and Bastion and headed to their homes. Later, after gathering up some things, Jaden, Dimitri, and Briar went to sleep over at Torrey's house, which was actually more of a mansion since his family was really rich.

The boys were all hanging out in Torrey's room in their PJ's, snacking and talking about going to Duel Academy.

"This is so exciting! We're going to be living on an island for school!" Jaden said, totally hyped, even though he hated school.

"It would be really cool if our dorms were right next to the beach." Briar added.

Dimitri laughed. "All you'd do is read!"

The other two laughed while Briar blushed, all knowing he read just as much as he dueled.

Torrey then got a sly smile on his face. "Maybe we'll have roommates and Dimitri will be in the same room with Bastion."

Dimitri choked on his soda and blushed bright red, getting a laugh from the others.

These antics continued on for another hour before it was time for them to head to bed. They all went to sleep, excited for what Duel Academy would bring.

 **Rose: And that is that!**

 **You think people will like it?**

 **Casey: Maybe, even if they don't you'll keep writing anyway because you don't leave anything unfinished.**

 **True, anyway read and review!**

 **Oh, and could some of you send up a prayer for a family from my church. A friend of mine had a seizure while she and a group were in Haiti and they were too far away from medical help to save her. Just pray for the family, that's all I ask.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Back for round two.**

 **Alex: What's going to happen next? (Trying to look at the script)**

 **(Swats her hand away) Wait and see!**

 **Brian: Wolf doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the characters. She just owns her OC's and the idea. Also cards by Princessanime08 and Lightclaw's Shadow will also be used so creative rights go to them.**

 **Wayne: Read and review! Enjoy!**

Chapter 2: Welcome to Duel Academy

A few days after the entrance exams, the boys and the rest of the students that passed the exams were in a plane en route to their new school. They were all excited about the new people they would get to meet and duel.

Jaden was dozing in his seat next to Syrus who was staring out the window. Dimitri was sitting next to Bastion, and they had really hit it off. Torrey and Briar were seated next to each other, Torrey following Jaden's example and Briar was writing in his journal.

 _"Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking,"_ Said a voice over the intercom. _"If you look out your window you'll your new home away from home."_

Most of the students did just that and got a good look at the island. It was mainly green due to all the forest areas and there was even a dormant volcano. But the main attraction was the main building near the center of the island. It was silver, with four gold spires surrounding it. Looking closely, you could see three roofs, blue, yellow, and red, in that order, coming off the main building.

 _"Quite a site, isn't it. Okay, please fasten your seatbelts and set your seats in an upright position. Next stop, Academy Island!"_

 _Some time later_

The boys soon found themselves in a large classroom, like you would find at a university.

Before they got there, before they got there they had to change into their school uniforms. The ones Briar and Dimitri were wearing yellow uniforms, Dimitri wearing it with his jacket open over a black t-shirt with the mockingjay symbol on it, Torrey's was blue, and Jaden's was red.

Seconds later, a man in his mid to late forties appeared on a giant screen in front of them. He was bald with a goatee and wore a red blazer darker than the others over a shirt and tie.

"Good morning and welcome my students," He said in a pleasant tone. "I'm Chancellor Sheppard, the headmaster here at Duel Academy, and you are the best and and brightest duelists in the world. Now please get yourselves settled in to your assigned dorms. I hope you find them quite comfortable, depending on how you ranked of course."

The students then walked out of the main building and headed off toward their dorm room assignments. Jaden and Syrus were sitting next to one of the stone statues near the front walk looking through their Duel Pilots, silver PDAs they gave to all the students.

"Well Syrus, it looks like we're in the Slifer Red dorm." Jaden pointed out looking at his rank and room number.

"Yeah, and it looks like we're in the same room, too." Syrus pointed out.

As they were sitting there, Bastion, Briar, and Dimitri walked up to them.

"Hey guys, you got into Ra Yellow I take it?" Jaden said, nodding in greeting.

"What gave it away, the yellow uniforms?" Dimitri wise cracked, in his usual relaxed demeanor.

Briar, on the other hand, just nodded and looked away. Where he ended up may have been good for others but he knew how his parents were going to react and it wasn't going to be good.

' _Why do they always expect me to be perfect?'_ He thought sadly.

Jaden looked over at Briar, knowing exactly what was going through his head. Their eyes met and Jaden gave him a reassuring smile, which Briar returned.

Jaden then decided to change the subject.

"Say, where's Torrey?" He asked, noticing that the fourth member of the group was missing.

"You called." Said person answered.

They all turned to see Torrey walking up to them and being the only one of the group in blue.

"Hey, Torrey," Dimitri waved. "Looks like you got into Obelisk Blue."

"Yeah," Torrey sighed. "Though I think I only got in there because I went to prep school."

"No way, you're one of the best duelists I know," Jaden said, trying to cheer up his friend. "You earned your spot in that dorm."

Torrey smiled. "Thanks, Jay. Speaking of dueling skills, why are you in Slifer Red? You're good enough to be at least in Ra Yellow."

"Not sure," Jaden shrugged. "But I don't mind. I'll just work my way up."

"Well said," Bastion praised. "Well, we should all probably head to our dorms and unpack."

"Good idea, Bastion. See you guys around the dorms." Jaden said.

"I don't think so, Jaden," Briar spoke up and pointed to the other side of the island. "The Slifer dorm is over there and the Obelisk dorm is in the opposite direction."

"Well then, we'll see each other around class." Dimitri responded in his usual laid-back tone. "Later dudes!"

With that, he took off in the _wrong_ direction of his dorm.

"Dimitri! You're going the wrong way!" Briar called after him, heading in the same direction to stop him.

Torrey and Jaden laughed at their antics while Bastion and Syrus just stared.

 _Obelisk Dorm_

The Obelisk dorm was extravagant. All white with a blue roof. The grounds around the building; pristine. It looked like a _palace_.

To Torrey though, it looked almost like home, which annoyed him very much.

"Somebody shoot me." He muttered.

He hated the whole being a rich kid thing, mainly because when people hear that he's rich they either think he's a spoiled brat or they try to be his friend for the benefits that come with it. He was also still mad at his parents for sending him to prep school instead of the same middle school with his friends.

Sighing, he headed inside and was amazed by how lavish it was inside, too.

After heading up the stairs, he found his room. It were _huge_! There was a king size bed, a widescreen TV, a kitchen with a fridge and stove, and even a full size bathroom with a jacuzzi in it.

"Well, at least I have the room to myself."

"Not a fan of the glitz and glam, huh?" Asked a female voice from behind him.

He turned to see a girl wearing the Obelisk girl uniform standing in the door. She had waist length red purple hair and gray eyes with tan skin and an athletic figure.

"Um, not to be rude, but who are you?" Torrey asked, wondering what a girl was doing here.

"Oh sorry, my name's Kelsey, nice to meet you," The girl, Kelsey, answered with a warm smile. "I'm here to help my friend unpack."

"Oh, okay," The brunette Obelisk understood, feeling more at ease. "I'm Torrey."

"Hey, Kel!" Came another voice from outside.

Soon, a boy in the standard uniform came into Torrey's view. He had long white hair in a ponytail to his waist, light gray eyes, thin and pale.

The newcomer glanced into the room she was standing front of and frowned when he saw Torrey.

"Who's this?" He asked, none too enthusiastically.

"Oh, this is Torrey, we just met, he's cool." Kelsey smiled, totally not seeing the tension from her friend.

Torrey, on the other hand, could obviously see the protective glare settling on the white haired boy. Though the boy then took a second look at Torrey and blinked.

"Oh yeah, I've heard of you," He said, looking over the glasses wearing boy. "Torrey McLean, right? They called you the Prep School Rebel. Heard some wicked stuff about you."

"Yeah, well, don't believe everything you hear." Torrey growled, moving to set his stuff down by the bed.

He had acted out a few times at prep school to get his parents' attention, which didn't work.

"Hey, it's cool, I was impressed by some of the stuff you did. I'm David by the way." The boy, David, introduced himself wondering why the other guy was getting defensive.

Torrey sighed.

"Nice to meet you…" He said, almost inaudibly.

After putting his stuff down, he headed toward the door.

"Where you goin'?" Kelsey asked, she and her friend moving to let him out.

"I'm gonna go look around before dinner." He answered, looking back slightly.

"Dinner's in an hour, just so you know!" David called after him.

Torrey just nodded and headed down the stairs, wanting to get out of this world of money getting him to places he'd rather get to on his own.

 _Ra Dorm_

The Ra Yellow dorm looked like how a library looked from the outside. It was very clean and almost all yellow.

"Wow! This is awesome!" Dimitri exclaimed, looking like a boy on Christmas morning.

Briar smiled tiredly, having had to chase down his friend for five minutes before finally getting to the dorm.

Bastion sympathized with the shorter Ra.

They walked inside and found their dorm rooms along the same hall as each other. After unlocking the doors, they opened to fair sized rooms, with beds by the window, desk and drawers for clothes, bathrooms by the entrance, and even small fridges and stoves for in room cooking.

"Nice!" Dimitri said. "Single rooms to ourselves, with the standard essentials. All that's left is to unpack personal items."

"All that's left to do is "christen the ship"." Briar joked lightly as he went to unpacking.

After a while, he were done and met Dimitri out in the hall.

"So, what should we do now?" Briar asked, a little uncertain.

"Let's go explore the school!" Dimitri said.

"Okay." Briar agreed.

He turned to Bastion's open door. "Hey, Bastion, you want to come, too?"

Bastion peered out the door and shook his head. "Sorry, but I'm going to be setting up my computer."

"Well, guess that just leaves just the two of us, so let's go!" Dimitri said and ran ahead of Briar, not seeing the person in front of him until they collided, Dimitri falling to the floor.

"Whoa, sorry man…!" The wild child stopped short when he saw the person he had run into.

He was a big guy, both in height and girth, and had a sullen, almost scary face. He had short brown hair and was wearing the standard Ra Yellow uniform.

"Whoa, uh, sorry about that!" Dimitri laughed nervously, since this guy looked like he could easily pound him.

Briar caught up with his friend and had a similar reaction to Dimitri's. "Oh, um, hi. Sorry about that, Dimitri never really mastered the rule about not running in the halls."

Dimitri glared at him as he got up.

"It's okay." The other male said in a deep voice and headed toward the room that was next door to Briar's room.

"Well, that was weird." Dimitri said.

Briar just looked at him with her stern look. "Will you stop rushing off everywhere!"

Dimitri thought for a moment. "No, not really."

He then dashed off again.

Briar groaned and rolled his eyes before following.

 _Slifer Dorm_

The two newly made Slifer Reds headed in the direction Briar pointed out and found the dorm building. But the place hardly seemed like a dorm, it was more like an old motel with two floors and peeling paint.

Syrus had very different opinion about it. "This isn't a dorm, it's an outhouse with a deck!"

But Jaden loved it, leaning against the railing to look at the ocean. "No way! Check out this view! This place is great!"

Jaden then moved away from the railing to find their room.

"This one's ours, Sy." He said.

The room had a long, two-seater desk along the left wall, the window right across the room from the door, a three-person bunk bed along the right wall, and a small stove for cooking.

"It's pretty small." Syrus pointed out.

"Hey, you're a small guy," Jaden cracked. "But anyway, I like it! It's a good place to start our first year!"

"Yeah, kinda weird meeting up at the entrance exams, and now we're roommates," Syrus pointed out, starting to daydream about them in royal Egyptian clothing. "You think we're connected in some kind of ancient past life?"

"No offense, but I highly doubt that," Jaden said, walking over to the curtains, letting the light stream in. "Let's get some light in here."

"Hey! Those were closed for a reason." Came an angry voice from the top bunk.

"Sorry." Syrus said.

"Yeah, we didn't see you up there." Jaden added.

"Well can you see me now?!" The covers pulled back revealing an angry, heavy-set boy with a face and hair that made him look like a koala.

Syrus suddenly screamed in fear at the sight of the other boy. He clung to Jaden, knocking him over since he was in shock.

"Will you stop your screaming?! Who are you and what are you doing in my room?!"

"Oh sorry, my name's Jaden Yuki!" Jaden said, pushing Syrus off of him as he got up.

"And I'm Syrus."

"We're your new…" Jaden tried to explain himself, but the boy in bed turned his back to the new kids. "...roommates?"

"You're new, alright, so lemme tell you how things work." The boy muttered grouchily.

"Like when parents visit is?" Syrus asked.

"Duh, like how the whole color thing works. That's more important than anything," The older boy began to explain. "There are three kinds of students here. There's the Obelisk Blue students, the Ra Yellow students, and the Slifer Red students."

"Now, the Obelisk Blue students are the highest ranking students. Most through grades, others through connections. Ra Yellow students are really gifted kids with lots of potential. And then, there's us, the Red Wonders…"

"The Wonders," Syrus murmured. "That doesn't sound so bad."

The large boy continued, ignoring Syrus' comment. "As in 'I wonder how reject like us ever got this far'. Sorry, but a lot of people look down on us because we're the lowest rank, nothing but the bottom of the barrel."

Jaden and Syrus looked at each other for a few minutes before the sleeping boy remembered to introduce himself. "Oh, I'm Chumley, by the way. Nice to meet you."

 _Main Building_

Torrey made his way to the main building. As he walked, Dimitri hollered after him and ran over to him, Briar dogging behind him.

"Hey, did you meet your dorm neighbors?"

Torrey nodded. "Yeah, at least a couple of them aren't snobs. What about you?"

"Undetermined for right now." Dimitri responded.

When they reached the entrance, they met up with Jaden and Syrus, who Jaden had convinced to come along. They all noticed that Syrus had sour look on his face.

"What's the matter, Syrus?" Briar asked, having finally been able to catch his breath.

"He's kicking himself because our roommate told him that Slifers were the lowest rank," Jaden answered for him.

"Don't worry, Syrus, the year just started. You'll move up." Briar reassured him. For some reason, it bothered him that Sy was unhappy.

"I guess you're right." Syrus reasoned, cheering up a bit, Briar also feeling happier.

This didn't go unnoticed by the other boys. They all shared a look, suspecting that Briar was having a crush and they were going to help him with it, in a productive way.

"Hey, let's go take a look inside!" Jaden said, already heading that way.

"Um, does Jaden know where he's going?" Syrus asked, wondering where they were going.

"Jaden has his own innate sense of direction, especially when it comes to dueling," Torrey explained, looking back at him since he was near the back with Briar.

"Sometimes it's right and sometimes we end up completely lost." Dimitri cracked, with a laugh.

The group soon came upon a large room, realizing it was an arena. The place was huge, with stands all around the walls, and a dueling platform in the middle with wires coming out of the base.

"Wow, this is awesome!" Jaden said, jumping up onto the platform.

"Yeah, totally state of the art." Syrus was looking at the field technology.

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter where you duel thanks to these duel disks." Torrey noted.

"That's true," Briar agreed, when he suddenly became worried about something. "Are we allowed in here?"

"Sure, we're students here and this is our campus." Jaden pointed out.

"Wrong! This is the Obelisk Blue campus! No Slifer Slackers or Ra Rejects aloud!" They all turned to see two guys in Obelisk blazers. They were same guys who were hanging out with Chazz; Torimaki and Raizou.

"Oh, really?" Dimitri said, not liking these guys at all.

"That's right," Raizou pointed behind them. "Check out the crest!"

The guys turned to see a large symbol in the shape of Obelisk the Tormentor's head above the entrance to the duel arena.

"This is Blue territory. No Reds or Yellows allowed!" Torimaki sneered.

"Excuse me?" Torrey interrupted. "I'm an Obelisk and I want them here."

"No one asked you, McLean!" Torimaki snapped, getting a glare from all people in the group.

"Friends of yours?" Dimitri cracked, looking at the humble Obelisk.

"Not even close!" Torrey hissed.

He knew these two back at prep school and he hated them greatly. Plus, if he was right, their _boss_ wasn't too far behind.

"Oh, sorry. We didn't know. We'll leave, right guys?" Syrus shrank away, looking at Jaden, practically begging him with his eyes.

Briar was agreeing with the other Slifer, since he was never one to argue.

The brunette shrugged. "Don't worry, Sy, we don't have to leave. Not unless…"

He turned to the Obelisk snobs with a glint of mischief in his eyes. "One of you guys agree to duel me. I'll be a guest duelist."

"Want to make it a tag duel, Jaden?" Torrey asked. "I'd love to knock these guys off their high horses."

The blue haired student looked at Jaden a moment. "Wait a minute, you're that kid!"

Before anyone could say anything, the brown haired snob turned to someone up in the stands. "Hey, Chazz! The applicant who beat Dr. Crowler is here!"

The gang turned to see a taller boy in blue with spiky black hair and cold gray eyes staring down at them, specifically at Jaden.

Jaden stared back at the boy for a few moments then waved at him.

"Hey, what up? I'm Jaden and your name is uh … Chuzz was it?" He asked, looking at the Obelisk snobs with a slight smirk.

The kid growled while the others started laughing, knowing Jaden had done that on purpose.

"He's Chazz Princeton and he was the number one duelist back at Duelist Prep School, so you be sure to pay him the proper respect!" The blue haired teen snapped.

His friend nodded. "He's gonna be the next King of Games, the best duelist in the world!".

Jaden scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Impossible!"

"Say what?" Raizou asked confused.

"It's impossible for him to be the next King of Games because that's what I'm going to be." Jaden explained with a grin.

"Careful, Jaden, there are a few other people in this room who covet that title." Dimitri mentioned with a confident smirk.

The hero duelist returned it.

The Obelisk boys stared them before laughing at what they heard, but for a not so nice reason.

"Oh, here we go…" Torrey muttered.

The two boys then stopped laughing and then glared at Jaden. "You? A Slifer Slacker, the next King of Games? That'll be the day!"

Torrey made a move to smack them, but stopped when Jaden shot him a look that said 'no'. Torrey backed down but was not happy about it.

"Can it you two!" A cold voice snapped.

Chazz walked down the ramp a bit to get into their view some more. "Maybe the new kid has a point."

"Uh, whatcha mean Chazz?" Taiyou asked, confused.

"He _did_ beat Crowler after all… and that legendary monster of his. I suppose that takes _some_ skill."

"Um, thanks?" Jaden said, confused at the compliment, but Torrey knew there was insult coming a mile away.

"Or was it luck? I say we figure that right now." Chazz said in a cocky tone.

Jaden looked Chazz dead in the eye and smirked. "Bring it!"

"Hey, Syrus, we should sell tickets for this!" Dimitri joked.

Syrus of course didn't get it, but Briar did, which caused him to laugh lightly.

"Well, this certainly is a motley crew." Said a new voice.

They all turned to see another Obelisk walking towards. It was a girl Obelisk with long sandy blonde hair. Her name was Alexis Rhodes.

"Wow, who's she?" Syrus asked.

Jaden shrugged, along with Briar and Dimitri, but Torrey recognized her from prep school. She was probably the only person there he respected.

Chazz smirked. "Hey, Alexis. You come to watch me mop the floor with me new friend Jaden? I promise it'll be a short match, but an entertaining one."

Alexis crossed her arms and lightly glared at him. "I came to remind you guys about the Obelisk's Welcome Dinner, you're late."

"Oh, yeah," Chazz mumbled, getting up and walking away. "Come on guys."

The other two followed him.

"Sorry if Chazz rubbed you the wrong way," Alexis said as she turned toward the group still there. "Not all us Obelisks are like that. He's just a jerk, especially with Slifers."

"Ah, it's no big deal," Jaden said in a laid back tone. "Types like them don't bother us much."

Alexis looked at him, surprised at the reaction. "Besides, I could take him down in one turn."

"Really, Jaden?" Dimitri asked, getting his trademark smirk. "I'm sure _I_ could beat him with my eyes closed."

"We gotta work on that overconfidence." Syrus commented.

"Plus, how can you duel without looking at your cards?" Torrey asked, being the realistic one like always.

"I'm not sure yet!" Dimitri answered with his usual smile, like he just figured it out.

They all looked at him for a moment before they all started laughing, leaving the wild child confused. "What's so funny?"

Alexis then remembered something. "Oh, the Slifer Welcoming Dinner is starting too."

"Well then, we better get there before the food's gone." Jaden said before running down the exit tunnel.

"Hey, wait up!" Syrus called as he ran after him.

Just before they left, Jaden stopped and turned back to the female Obelisk. "By the way, what was your name again?"

Alexis blinked, surprised, then smiled. "Alexis Rhodes! And you are?"

"Jaden Yuki!" He replied. "See ya around!"

"Why didn't you introduce me?" Syrus asked running after him.

"Jaden…" Alexis whispered, testing out the name. She smiled as she watched to two boys run off.

Dimitri laughed. "This is going to be an awesome year."

"Uh, you guys might want to get going, too." Alexis said, looking at the two Ras.

Dimitri got an 'oh crud' look on his face.

"Oh snap! The Ra dinner, Bastion was on our case about this!" He remembered, freaking out a bit. "Okay, quick intro, I'm Dimitri, this is Briar, nice to meet ya, have a nice time! Bye!"

Dimitri then dashed out of the arena, the Ra he had introduced right on his heels, moaning that he didn't want to run again.

"Well, this year will be fun." Torrey muttered, with a smile.

"I should probably get going." He mentioned, giving Alexis a rare smile that he only shared with his friends before leaving the arena.

Alexis watched him go. ' _So, those are the friends he told me about.'_

She smiled, thinking her friend was going to be happier here than he was at prep school.

 _Later That Night_

After the dinners were over, the others snuck out of their dorms to go meet up with Jaden at the Slifer dorm. Briar and Dimitri were sitting together near the desk while Torrey lounged on the lower bunk and Jaden leaned up against the wall.

They started talking about how the dinners went and their dorm professors. "Man, I'm stuffed. I'll tell ya, Professor Banner sure can cook."

"Yeah, and he seems like a pretty nice guy as well." Syrus agreed, coming over to where the boys were sitting with a tray of tea mugs.

Chumley was up in his bunk like he was sleeping, but he was awake. He had been a little hesitant of the Ras and the Obelisk.

"Yeah, he's good people!" Jaden agreed, taking one of cups. "Thanks, Sy!

Dimitri also took one.

"Professor Satyr's like that too, he cooked the food for the Ra dinner." Briar added in a say about their dorm head.

"Yeah, he's cool, I like him!" Dimitri said before taking a sip of tea. "How was your dinner, Torrey?"

"I'm positive there was lobster with every single entree." Torrey gripped, having never been one for that much seafood.

The others laughed, knowing Torrey's discomfort.

"Hey, Chumley, want some tea?" Sy asked the grouchy boy on the top bunk.

"Did I say I was thirsty?" Chumley responded rudely, turning away from them.

"Hey, he just asked if you wanted some tea, no need to snap at him!" Jaden scolded.

"That's okay, Jaden. I'm used to it." Syrus said glumly.

Dimitri and Torrey made a mental note to help Syrus grow a backbone.

"Duh, tea makes you wet the bed!" Chumley argued, then realized what he was implying. "Not that I do or ever did…I mean…whatever, I'm trying to sleep!"

"Too much information!" Torrey muttered, taking a tea mug for himself.

"Um, I'll have one…" Briar said quietly, now looking shy and uncomfortable.

"Oh, sure, here you go Briar." Syrus said, holding out the tray to he could grab one.

"Thanks…" The quiet Ra said, almost inaudibly, but gave Syrus a kind smile that was returned.

Jaden looked over at them and could see the chemistry starting between those two. He smirked and glanced over at Dimitri, who was smirking with him. Before this year was up, those two were going to get together.

While those two were plotting, Torrey had noticed a sketch caught between the bed and the wall. When he pulled it out, it looked like a sketch of a duel monster he didn't recognize.

"Hey, Chumley, did you draw this?" He asked the grouchy boy, leaning out from the bottom bunk to show him.

Said boy looked over the edge of the top bunk. "Oh, I was wondering where that went. Yeah, I drew that."

"It's good." Torrey praised with a smile, catching the older student off guard.

He always thought that all Obelisks were snobs, but Torrey actually seemed like a nice guy.

Jaden leaned over to look at the drawing himself and agreed with Torrey. "Yeah, Chumley, you've got talent."

"Uh, thanks." Chumley saying, not used to be complimented on anything.

Before the conversation could go in any other direction, a beeping-ringing sound went off in the room. It was quickly determined that it was Jaden's PDA signaling he had a message.

Turning it on, it turned out to be a video message from Chazz. _"Hey, Slifer Slacker, don't think you're off the hook. Tonight at midnight, it's on. Oh, and why don't we make things interesting? Whoever wins gets the other guy's best card."_

"I was wondering how long it would take for Chazz to pull a stunt like this." Torrey muttered, knowing this was definitely something he would do.

"Still, cool," Jaden said, closing his PDA. "Looks like I'll get to duel at that arena after all."

"If that's Chazz you're dueling, all you've got is trouble." Chumley pointed out.

"He's right, Jay," Torrey said, being serious. "Chazz may be a jerk, but he can put his cards where his mouth is, albite barely in my opinion."

Jaden smirked. "Well, I can backup my words, too. Only better."

He grabbed his duel disk and strapped it on. "You guys don't have to come with me if you don't want to. If we get caught and get in trouble, I rather not bring you guys down with me."

"No way," Dimitri said, getting up from his spot on the floor. "One of us jumps, we all jump. We either all go or none at all."

"I'm with Dimitri on this one." Torrey agreed, standing up from the bed.

Briar nodded in agreement, though he was a little nervous about this plan.

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea, Jaden." Syrus said, nervous for his new friends.

"Good or bad, when someone challenges you to a duel, ya gotta step up. There's no choice."

Syrus made an unsure sound, but didn't say anything else.

Jaden turned to the other Slifers and smiled. "If you guys want, you can stay here and cover for me if anyone asks where I am."

"Don't worry, this isn't the first time we done something risky." Dimitri said with his hands behind his head, totally relaxed.

Briar could tell that Syrus was still worried.

"Don't worry, Sy, we'll be okay." He smiled reassuringly.

Syrus looked at him before seeming to relax a bit. The other three of the group smirked at the display.

Soon, the four friends headed out the door and to the main building.

"Briar has a crush~" Dimitri teased, and soon paid for it with a kick to the shin. "Ow!"

The others laughed at their friend's pain.

 _Obelisk Arena_

Jaden and the others reached the arena and found Chazz and his flunkies on the other side of the arena.

"Well, well, well. He shows."

"You better believe it. There was no way I was gonna miss this." Jaden walked over to the platform and climbed on.

The guys took a spot on the sidelines behind him.

"Time to find out if you beating Dr. Crowler was a fluke or a fact." Chazz said.

"Yeah, well we're gonna find out something else, too," Jaden responded. "Like whether or not rank actually matters here."

"Yeah, yeah. Just make sure to have your best card ready to hand over when you lose." Chazz sneered.

"You too," Jaden said, going into what Dimitri called warrior mode. "Now, game on."

Both duel disks were now on and their opening hands had been drawn. "Duel!"

Jaden: 4000

Chazz: 4000

"All right, Slacker," Chazz drew his card and looked over his hand. "For my first move, I'll summon Reborn Zombie in defense mode."

Appearing was a decaying zombie wearing a tattered cloak with gray hair and no eyes. Also, the bones on his right hand and foot visible (1000/1600).

"And I'll also place one card face down." A facedown card appeared behind the zombie.

"I'm up!" Jaden said. He drew his card and looked over his hand.

As he did, he heard a familiar coo sound and looked to see that his Kuriboh card had moved a little as if peeking out from hiding. ' _Hey, good to see you Winged Kuriboh. I'm going think that drawing you my first turn was a good omen. I'll use you later, but first...'_

He took a card from his hand. "I use Polymerization, fusing Elemental Heroes Avian and Burstinatrix!"

The hero duelist held up the cards of the two aforementioned heroes before they appeared in a flash of light. They then jumped into the air and started to glow.

"Now, appearing to defend those in need, here is Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" After a bright flash, in the place where the last two heroes stood, stood the monster from Jaden's first duel (2100/1200).

"I don't usually go on the offensive first, but there's a first time for everything."

Chazz just smirked. "I was hoping you'd do that…"

"Why's that?" Jaden asked, not liking the sound of that at all.

"Because the card I played face down was a trap card, slacker, that you set off!" Chazz gloated.

Jaden growled. He hated being outfoxed.

"Chthonian Polymer, do your stuff!" The face down rose up to show a picture of a man wrapped in flames.

"Man, Jay hates this trap!" Dimitri muttered.

"I had a feeling I'd find you guys here." The boys glanced back and noticed Alexis walking towards them.

"Alexis?" Briar asked, surprised to see the Obelisk queen here.

"Chthonian Polymer is a nasty trap. It allows you to take control of an opponent's fusion monster by sacrificing one of your own creatures." Alexis explained.

"Yeah, we know. Jay's had this tactic pulled on him before." Dimitri informed her.

"I sacrifice Reborn Zombie to gain control of your Wingman!" Chazz said, smugly.

His monster burst in a flash of light. Then Jaden's favorite hero disappeared in a smaller light flash and reappeared on Chazz's side of the field. Only it's colors were darker and it had a dark raging aura around him.

"Uh, my monster!" Jaden grunted.

"Guess Chazz did his homework for once." Torrey said, Alexis snickering at that.

"You're so predictable, Jaden. You wouldn't stop talking about that Wingman at the exams, so I knew you'd use it soon." Chazz said like he knew everything, which annoyed Jaden greatly.

"Still, since that Wingman was a special summon, that means I'm allowed to summon another monster during my turn." Jaden countered, looking back at his hand. ' _Not that anything in my hand is a match for the Wingman…'_

He then looked at Winged Kuriboh. ' _Unless you would be willing to make a sacrifice play again, Kuriboh.'_

The coo he heard was all the confirmation he needed to hear.

Chazz was smirking up a storm. He had the monster responsible for Crowler's defeat on his side of the field and he was enjoying every minute of it.

' _Go on you Slifer slacker, play another monster. After all, I haven't forgotten the Flame Wingman's superpower!'_ He thought deviously as he watched Jaden choose a card from the three left in his hand.

"All right, I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode!" Jaden declared as he summoned the winged furball to the field (300/200). "There…all set."

Chazz drew his next card. "Yeah, setup to get knocked down! Rise, Chthonian Soldier!"

A man in dark armor with a large sword appeared next to the stolen Wingman (1200/1400).

"And now, Flame Wingman, attack with Skydive Scorcher!" The winged hero jumped into the air, flames covering its body, and dived down at the Kuriboh, destroying it. "And now, thanks to Wingman's super power, your life points now take damage equal to your destroyed monster's attack points!"

Wingman landed in front of Jaden and unleashed a flame storm on him, but Jaden wasn't worried. Chazz, the guys, and Alexis couldn't see it because of the flames, but a gold shield had surrounded Jaden, protecting his life points.

"But don't think for one second that I'm done yet, slacker! Chthonian Soldier! Attack! Windstorm Slash!" Said monster leapt into attack, but this time they saw the gold shield as it appeared to deflect the blade.

Chazz then finally noticed that Jaden's life points haven't been touched. "What the?!"

"Did you just now notice that?" Jaden asked, starting to get annoyed with his arrogance. "On the turn Winged Kuriboh is destroyed I take no damage! You saw my duel, Chazz, you should have known that! Or were you so busy gloating that you forgot?"

"Burned!" Dimitri called, Torrey laughing at his former classmate.

Chazz growled, but kept his composure. "I set two cards face down and end my turn."

Jaden drew his card. "I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman!"

This hero appeared human wearing a blue and gold suit with a curved blue helmet (1600/1400).

"Alright, Sparkman! Now attack with Static Shockwave!" The new hero shot a bolt of electricity at the dark armor monster and destroyed it.

Chazz: 3600

Jaden: 4000

As the smoke cleared, the soldier's sword rose above them and flew straight at Jaden, hitting him in the stomach. Jaden almost doubled over from the pain, but managed to stay on his feet.

"Surprise, slacker! When Chthonian Soldier is destroyed, you take the same amount of damage to your life points that I did."

Chazz: 3600

Jaden: 3600

"This isn't over, Chazz!" Jaden mentioned. "I set one card face down and end my turn!"

"Play what you want!" Chazz said, drawing another card.

"Go, Flame Wingman!" Flame Wingman's body began to be covered in flames again.

Jaden smirked. "I don't think so! I activate my trap!"

"A trap?" Chazz said incredulously.

"It's Mirror Gate!" Briar said in awe.

"Then Jaden's still in this duel after all," Alexis deduced Jaden's strategy. "Mirror Gate makes two monsters in a battle switch which side they're on. So, that Wingman is back with Jaden."

As she was talking, Sparkman appeared on Chazz's side of the field and Flame Wingman appeared on Jaden's side.

"Oh yeah! Go Wingman!" Jaden called.

The two heroes leapt at each other and grappled in the air, with sparks of both their powers flying. It didn't take long for Sparkman to succumb to defeat and be destroyed.

"NOOOO!" Chazz cried as he lost his advantage and some life points.

Chazz: 3100

Jaden: 3600

"And just like you told me a while ago, don't forget my Wingman's super power! You take damage equal to the attack points of the destroyed monster!" Jaden reminded him as Wingman sent remains of Sparkman's power back at Chazz, who yelled in pain as his life points dropped.

Chazz: 1900

Jaden: 3600

"Alright!" Briar cheered, Jaden giving a peace sign over his shoulder.

"Take that, blue boy!" Dimitri joined.

"Nice moves, Jaden." Alexis praised and Torrey nodded in agreement.

"More like lucky moves if you ask me, you Slifer school scum." Chazz retorted, glaring daggers at Jaden as he played his next card.

"Alright, I activate Chthonian Blast! Since you destroyed one of my monsters I get to destroy one of yours and you take damage equal to half of it's attack points." A tornado formed around Flame Wingman and then he burst into pixels.

Chazz: 1100

Jaden: 2550

"Flame Wingman!" Jaden gritted as his monster was destroyed.

"Now, I activate the trap card Call of the Haunted!" Chazz continued as his second face down popped up revealing a haunted graveyard.

"It lets me select one monster that's in my graveyard and summon it back to the field in attack mode. Rise, Chthonian Soldier!" The dark armored warrior reappeared on the field (1200/1400).

"But he won't be staying on the field for long, because I'm going to sacrifice him to summon Mefist the Infernal General!" Chthonian Soldier burst into pixels and then a dark armored, mounted horseman with a giant ax appeared (1800/1700).

"Not bad." Jaden commented, looking at the mounted horseman in front of him.

"Not bad?" Chazz looked at him before continuing. "You're something else, you know that Slacker? Acting all confident, but your lousy monsters won't get you out of this jam."

Jaden looked down at the only card in his hand before hearing the familiar voice of Winged Kuriboh calling out from the graveyard. ' _I know he's wrong Winged Kuriboh, because you, me, and the rest of my monsters share a bond that Chazz won't ever be able to break.'_

He drew his next card and smiled slightly. ' _And speaking of bonds…'_

Before Jaden could make his move, Alexis turned to the entrance, thinking she had heard footsteps.

"What's up, Lex?" Torrey asked his friend.

When she confirmed she had she turned back to the group with wide eyes. "Uh, Guys! We've got company! Campus Security! If they find us all in here we'll get seriously busted!"

"What?" Briar yelped.

"Why?" Jaden said, looking back at her. "I mean, we're all students here."

Alexis huffed and pulled out her PDA. "The rules say no off hour arena duels! Chazz _knows_ that, but lemme guess he didn't tell?"

Said Obelisk blushed at being found out.

"Just as I thought, you're up to no good again!" Torrey glared at Chazz, who returned it fully.

"C'mon, let's go!" The blue haired Obelisk leaned forward from he was watching, the other one looking scared at the thought of getting caught.

"Well, well, Slacker, looks like you lucked out this time." Chazz said, turning to leave.

"This isn't over, Chazz." Jaden said seriously, turning off his duel disk.

"You're right, it's not." Chazz then hopped off the platform and walked out the arena.

Jaden wanted to say something else, but he didn't get the chance.

"Jaden, we gotta get out of here!" Torrey called.

"Yeah, he's right." Alexis agreed, looking ready to bolt.

"Come on, let's go." Briar urged even more.

"Yeah, man, I don't wanna get busted on the first day!" Dimitri added. "Heck, it isn't even the first day yet!"

"Alright, alright, I get it, we're going!" Jaden barked. "No one's going to get caught, so calm your butts down!"

With that Jaden got off the platform, following the others, turning the lights off on the way out. They were soon outside the main entrance.

"You certainly have a temper, Jaden." Alexis commented.

"Only when people freak over something that hasn't or won't happen." Jaden grumbled.

The guys sweatdrop.

"Thanks for showing us the back way out, Alexis." Briar said.

"Sure, I'm sorry you didn't get to finish your match with Chazz." The Obelisk female smiled.

"It's okay, I know just how it would have ended anyway." Jaden replied casually.

"Really?" Alexis asked, Jaden turning to look at her. "No offense but from my point of view, it looked like it could have gone either way between you and Chazz before you guys stopped."

"Not after I drew this." Jaden showed her the card he had drawn before they had to make a run for it.

It was the spell card Monster Reborn.

Alexis gasped and Jaden smirked. He would have summoned Flame Wingman back to the field and destroyed Mefist, taking Chazz out with it.

The guys smiled, not surprised that Jaden managed to draw the winning card.

"See ya." Jaden said, the guys following him to the fork in the paths.

She watched them leave before smiling slightly. ' _This is going to be an interesting year.'_

 **And there's chapter two!**

 **Lance: Wow, two updates in one day.**

 **Yeah. Anyway, read, review, and stay tuned.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, chapter 3, here we go!**

 **Sakura: Wolf doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the characters. She just owns her OC's and the idea. Also cards by Princessanime08 and Lightclaw's Shadow will also be used so creative rights go to them.**

Chapter 3: A Duel in Love

It was morning at Duel Academy and the start of classes. The seating chart was so that first years were toward the front and the higher grades were near toward the back. However, since the Obelisks did pretty much got whatever they wanted, it was more like Slifers at the bottom, Ras in the middle, and the Obelisks at the top.

Torrey sat near the top with David sitting in front of him. Kelsey was sitting in front of Alexis. Dimitri sat to the right of Bastion, Brier and Beauregard sitting together in front of them. Jaden sat next to Syrus with Chumley sitting behind him.

Soon everyone was seated and class began, the first one being Dr. Crowler, who started by quizzing them to see what they already knew about duel monsters. He had started by asking Alexis the different categories of monsters and their sub-groupings.

"Duel monster cards can be grouped into normal monster cards, fusion monster cards, ritual monster cards, effect monster cards, trap cards, and spell cards. Trap cards can be divided into normal traps, counter traps, and continuous traps. Spell cards can be separated into normal spells, continuous spells, equip spells, quick-play spells, ritual spells, and field spells." Alexis addressed the entire class.

"Perfect!" Crowler praised. "Well done, Alexis! Of course, I wouldn't have expected anything less from one of my blue Obelisks!"

"Yes, Dr. Crowler." Alexis responded as she sat back down.

' _That's Alexis, always top of the class.'_ Torrey thought, watching her.

"Whatcha thinking about, Torrey?" David asked.

"Just thinking that Alexis hasn't changed much since prep school." Torrey whispered, not realizing that Alexis was thinking the same thing about him.

"Hmm, now who should we question next?" The doctor directed his attention toward the lower seats "You, Syrus Truesdale, please tell the class what a field spell is."

Syrus tried but because of his test anxiety he just stuttered the whole time. "If you can't answer a simple question like that then sit down." Dr. Crowler said after a few minutes.

After that Syrus sat down, thoroughly embarrassed, much to the boys' anger, especially when some of the Obelisks started laughing.

Jaden responded to it first, speaking up. "You know you really shouldn't diss Slifers, doc. I mean, I beat you and aren't I a Slifer? So that means that in the end, you're just insulting yourself."

This got a laugh out of everyone at the expression Crowler made.

Dimitri made the next move, hurriedly scribbling a drawing on a piece of paper. When his masterpiece was done, he called attention to himself, Brier begging him not to with his eyes. "Hey, Doc! I found this drawing on the floor that looks like you getting flattened by a piano with the words 'death to the crossdresser' written on it!"

This caused Crowler to turn a lovely shade of red and the whole room was now busting a gut. Even the more mature of the class, like Bastion and Alexis, were laughing.

 _'That's it!'_ Crowler thought in fury, looking at Jaden who had a smug look on his face, _'I won't tolerate this Slifer Slacker any longer! It's time I get him removed from this school, permanently!'_

He then eyed the boys he knew hung around with him. _'And then I'll do something about his little friends, starting with the artist!'_

 _Next Class_

Thankfully the next class was being taught by the Slifer headmaster. "Hello class, my name is Professor Lyman Banner. I specialize in teaching some of the lesser known tactics of duel monsters, tactics that some might even call unnatural…"

While he was talking, Syrus leaned over towards Jaden, who was listening with genuine interest, and whispered, "Thanks for standing up for me, Jaden."

Jaden gave Sy a smile. "No prob, Sy."

The class went on uneventfully, with the class ending peacefully. Torrey was definitely fascinated with the class, having always been into the unexplainable. He was going to have fun with it.

 _Crowler's Office_

Since he didn't have a class for a while, Crowler was writing a letter with a feather pen and still fuming over what had happened earlier.

"How dare that Slifer Slacker Jaden make a mockery of me in front of my class like that!" He grumbled, folding the letter and placing it in an envelope.

"It'll be the last mistake he makes at this academy!" He then picked up a mirror and started applying red lipstick to his lips. When he finished, he kissed that front of the letter where the folds met.

"Aah! The big kiss-off!" He laughed manically as he set to put his plan into action.

 _Gym Class_

Later, Jaden was in the gym with the rest of the gang and other students for their next class with Fonda Fontaine, who was also the school's nurse and head of the Obelisk girl's dorm. He had changed into gym clothes and waited for the teacher to show up.

The hero duelist noticed that Syrus was nowhere to be seen. "Hmm? I wonder where Sy is?"

"No idea. You want to sneak out and go look for him?" Dimitri asked, wanting an excuse to ditch class.

"No, he's probably just running late, it'll be fine." Torrey answered for Jaden, knowing that he would have gone along with it.

Dimitri pouted at the interference.

Meanwhile, in the boy's locker room, Crowler was sneaking around while chuckling sinisterly.

"Now, to plant the bait where Jaden will be sure to find it." Crowler said, searching the lockers for the one he thought was Jaden's. He believed he found it when he saw Jaden's boots at the bottom.

"Ah! His shoes!" He chuckled again, placing the letter on them and quickly left.

Back at the gym, the teacher, a woman with brown hair in a bun wearing gym clothes, finally showed up and walked to the front of the class.

"Hi everyone! My name is Fonda Fontaine, and I'll be your gym instructor for this semester! You ready to sweat?!" She spoke in a perky voice.

Brier got a look on his face that said 'kill me', which made Dimitri chuckle.

During this time, Syrus had been running late and had just gotten to the boy's locker room.

"Lousy girl's gym!" He said running towards his locker, trying to pull his shoes off as he went. "They should make the signs bigger."

When he opened his locker, he noticed Jaden's shoes in it. "Hey, those are Jaden's sneakers. Guess he's borrowing my locker." He went to move his shoes, causing the letter on top to fall off.

"Huh?" Syrus wondered, picking up the letter to examine it. He instantly saw the lipstick mark.

"But this isn't Jaden's!" Syrus gasped, before looking around to see if anyone was nearby. He then ducked between two sets of lockers to hide, so he could read the letter in semi-privacy.

"Someone wrote me a letter?! Wonder what it says." Syrus muttered opening the letter to read it. "Since the moment I first saw you, I've been… in love with you!? Meet me tonight behind the girl's dorm. Endearingly… Alexis Rhodes!?"

Syrus actually fell backwards after reading that. "Oh, this sure is a lot better than what my mom usually writes me…" Syrus said before slipping into a daydream about him and Alexis getting together.

"Oh, I'm yours!" He said with a dreamy look on his face.

 _Later that night, at the Slifer Dorm_

True to her word, Ms. Fontaine had definitely made them sweat. First they ran laps, then they split up for three way dodgeball. Dimitri and Torrey had a blast, leading Jaden to think that most of the class now hated them. Jaden headed back to his dorm after classes were over to work on homework, eat dinner, and shower.

"Hey, Sy, the outhouse is all yours if you want it. I'm done." Jaden said, coming back in wearing pajamas and drying his hair with a towel.

"Sy's gonzo." Chumley said off handedly.

"Huh?" Jaden asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he just left," The older boy went on to explain. "And he was in a real good mood, too."

"A good mood?" Jaden repeated, as he wasn't sure if he heard that right, before sitting down on a stool in the room. "That really doesn't sound like Syrus." Now he was worried.

 _Lake Shore_

Dimitri was taking a walk late that night, when he saw Syrus running off somewhere with a big, happy look on his face. "Syrus?"

Dimitri followed him to see what was up, but as soon as he caught up with him, he was already in a rowboat heading off to the girl's dorm. "Not good!"

"Alexis! I'm coming for you my darling, I'm coming!" He exclaimed, so deep in this fantasy that he didn't stop to think this was a bad idea.

"Darn it!" Dimitri swore. "This can't possibly get worse!"

"Hey, you!" A voice called from behind him. He turned to see Torimaki standing there. "What're you doing over here in Obelisk territory, Ra Reject?"

"Taking a walk," Dimitri responded coolly, turning to face the Obelisk. "Is that a problem?"

The blue haired Obelisk looked at him for a moment before realizing something. "You're one of those Ras that were cheering for that slacker!"

"His name's Jaden, learn people's names will ya?" Dimitri retorted.

"Whatever, you're just punching bags to us elites!" Torimaki yelled.

Dimitri huffed. "If you were really elite, then you would spend more time dueling and less time talking smack." The Ra told him.

The Obelisk growled. "I'll show you who's superior! Let's duel!" He pulled out his duel disk and turned it on.

"Bring it on, blue boy!" Dimitri pulled out his own duel disk and did the same.

"Duel!" Both called.

Torimaki: 4000

Dimitri: 4000

"Best duelists, first!" Torimaki shouted as he drew his opening hand and his sixth card.

"I summon Mechanicalchaser in attack mode!" On his side of the field appeared a round, six-armed machine with only one eye and two green wings. Each hand either held a weapon or it was the weapon (1850/800). "I end by placing one card face down."

"Maybe I should've gone first." Dimitri mocked while drawing his next card.

"I play Jewel Beast Amethyst Wolf in attack mode!" And amethyst jewel appeared and then burst apart to reveal a white wolf with dark blue eyes and gold armor over its chest with a purple jewel in the center (1400/700).

" _ **Time for a hunt!"**_ Amethyst said giving a wolf-like smirk.

Dimitri smiled at the voices that had become familiar to him. It had scared him at first, making him think he was going crazy, but his monsters were quick to reassure him that he was still sane.

"Jewel whats?" Torimaki asked, dumbly.

"Jewel Beasts!" Dimitri clarified, smugly. "They're one of kind!"

"He's still too weak to stand up to my Mechanicalchaser!" Torimaki taunted.

"That's why I'm activating his special ability," Dimitri responded. "By cutting his attack points in half, he can attack you directly!"

"What?!" The Obelisk cried (1400-700/700).

Amethyst's attack power decreased but he was still ready for battle. He charged at the Obelisk, ducking under Mechanicalchaser's swinging arms and then raking his claws across Torimaki's torso.

Torimaki: 3300

Dimitri: 4000

"I put one card face down and end my turn." Dimitri finished, as his wolf's attack points went back to normal (700-1400/700). "If blues are supposed to be the best then we need to switch dorms."

"That's it!" Torimaki snapped, drawing his card.

"I summon Robotic Knight in attack mode!" A red and black robot that looked like a military general appeared next to Mechanicalchaser (1600/800).

"Then, I activate my facedown: DNA Surgery!"

"Uh oh."

"Uh oh, is right! With this card, I change all monsters to machine type!" The trap card bathed the field in a silver light and turned Amethyst into a robot. He looked like a mechanical dog.

"Dude, not cool!" The Jewel Beast duelist whined.

"I'm not finished! Next, I'll sacrifice Mechanicalchaser to summon my powerful Machine King!" Torimaki boasted as his robot was sacrificed for a taller and more powerful robot. It had red arms while the rest of it was silver, and it had a visor for eyes (2200/1500).

"And for every machine monster on the field, he gains 100 attack points!" Machine King's visor lit up with power (2200-2400/1500).

"Now, Machine King, attack Tethys with Shock Rocket Fist!" The King raised its arm and launched it Amethyst.

"I activate my facedown!" Dimitri called, a spell card with a picture of a circle surrounding Jewel Beast Amethyst Wolf and a purple cat with similar armor. "Crystal Circle! Whenever a Jewel Beast or Crystal Beast is destroyed, I get to draw a card and add a gem counter to this card."

Amethyst was struck and destroyed a moment later, which drew a card, and Machine King's power went down a little (2400-2300/1500).

Torimaki: 3300

Dimitri: 3000

But Amethyst didn't go to the graveyard, instead the pixels came together and formed a hunk of amethyst on Dimitri's field.

"What the?!" The Obelisk said when he saw it.

"All my beasts have the same ability," Dimitri explained. "When they're destroyed, they turn into crystals in my spell and trap zone."

Torimaki huffed. "So, what! I still have my knight to attack with!" The other robot came at since he was wide open, knocking him to the ground.

Torimaki: 3300

Dimitri: 1400

"This isn't over!" Dimitri said drawing his card.

"Heavy Storm, blow away his trap card!" A heavy wind blow and destroyed DNA Surgery. "That's better!"

"It won't change anything!" Torimaki countered.

"It will after I do this. I summon Jewel Beast Zircon Pegasus in attack mode!" A zircon stone appeared and then burst apart to reveal a white pegasus with zircon gems in its wings and a matching horn (1800/1400).

"When he's summoned, I can special summon one Jewel Beast from my hand! Rise, Jewel Beast Citrine Tiger!" A white tiger with gold armor over his chest and a citrine jewel in the center appeared in the same manner (1600/1000).

"Now, I equip Citrine with the spell Citrine Claw, giving him 600 extra attack points and the ability to cause piercing damage!" Citrine Tiger's claws began glowing orange and his power increased (1600-2200/1000).

"Now, Citrine, let's show him what you jewels can do!"

" _ **Why don't you tell our friend here about my special talent."**_ Citrine turned to his master.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. When Citrine battles a monster, he gets a 500 attack point bonus!" Dimitri added.

"What?!"

"You heard me! Show him, Citrine, use Citrine Pounce!" The tiger's attack points increased as he got ready to spring (2200-2700/1000).

He then leaped at Robotic Knight, smashing him to pixels, before going back to his boss's side (2700-2200/1000).

Machine King's power went down at the lose of his comrade (2300-2200/1500)

Torimaki: 2200

Dimitri: 1400

"My turn's not through! Next, I play the spell Zircon Blaze!" The spell card had a picture of Zircon Pegasus flying through the sky surrounded by flames. "By cutting his attack points in half, he can attack you directly!"

" _ **To the skies we go!"**_ The pegasus' body was covered in flames as his strength decreased (1800-900/1000). He took to the skies, flew over Machine King, and rammed himself into the Obelisk snob.

Torimaki: 1300

Dimitri: 1400

Dimitri smiled at the turn of the duel. "I end my turn." (900-1800/1000)

Torimaki regained his breath and glared at the Ra. "You'll pay for that!" He drew his next card.

"I summon Machine King Prototype in attack mode!" A smaller version of Machine King appeared sitting on a stone throne (1600/1500).

"And he gets 100 attack and defense points for every machine on the field!" Both monsters got a power boost from the presence of the other (1600-1700/1500-1600) (2200-2300/1500).

"Now, Machine King, attack his tiger!" The bigger robot launched its fist at Citrine, but instead of him being destroyed, the equip spell was destroyed instead (2200-1600/1000).

"Sorry, but instead of Citrine being destroyed, the equip spell is instead!" Dimitri clarified.

"Then what Machine King started, Machine King Prototype with finish!" The smaller one performed the same attack and destroyed Citrine Tiger, turning him into a citrine shard.

Torimaki: 1300

Dimitri: 1300

"My turn!" Dimitri said. ' _Come on deck, give me a miracle!'_

Dimitri drew his next card. He smiled when he saw what it was. "I summon Jewel Beast Turquoise Lioness in attack mode!"

A turquoise stone appeared and burst apart to reveal a white lioness with three tails embedded with turquoise shards and a gold collar embedded with turquoise gems around it (1100/800).

"Neither of those monsters can beat me!" Torimaki taunted.

"Yes they can," Dimitri retorted. "Since I have a Jewel Beast on my field, Turquoise Lioness can attack you directly!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Go, Turquoise, attack with Turquoise Roar!" Turquoise Lioness nodded and let off a powerful roar, making the Obelisk cover his ears.

Torimaki: 300

Dimitri: 1300

"And I'm not yet!" Dimitri added, playing the last card in his hand. "I play the spell Zircon Flame!" The spell card had a picture of Zircon Pegasus surrounded by flames.

"Zircon gains 600 attack points until the end of my turn! The monster that's attacked won't be destroyed, but you'll still take damage!" Zircon was surrounded by flames as his power increased (1800-2400/1000).

He then did the same thing that he did with Zircon Blaze, only this time he flew at Machine King Prototype. He may not have been destroyed, but the flames came off and swept towards Torimaki.

Torimaki: 0

Dimitri: 1300

Dimitri smiled at his victory. "I was right, color doesn't mean a thing!"

He then remembered why he was here in the first place. "Oh, man! I need to go tell Jaden!" He rushed off toward the Slifer dorm.

 _Obelisk Girl Dorm_

Meanwhile, up at the gates, Crowler, wearing a tight, black body suit, cut the lock off with bolt cutters and headed inside. He then dashed from bush to bush in a ninja fashion as a way to get closer to the windows, so he had better light to see but also couldn't be seen. As you get closer, you can hear Alexis talking with her friends.

"Hey, Alexis, want to chill out in the Obelisk wading pool?" A girl with brown hair, named Jasmine, asked her.

"No, thanks." She declined. "We'll wade and the guys will rage. I'm not in the mood for a game of tackle marco polo."

"Hello! Girl's dorm! No guys allowed, remember?" Her friend persisted, until Alexis finally agreed.

Meanwhile, Crowler had finally gotten into a position he liked to spring his trap.

"This will be perfect, thanks to that faux love letter that I wrote!" Crowler said gleefully, going over his plan again. "Jaden will show up looking for Alexis, but all he'll find is trouble instead! Once he arrives, I'll snap a picture of him. And then… I will have caught him red-handed breaking campus rules, he will be ruined!"

The wading room was all gold and kind reminded you of a Greek bathhouse. Alexis was talking with her friends about the day, and the subject of what happened in Crowler's class.

"Can you believe what that Jaden kid said to Dr. Crowler in class today?" Jasmine said. "He's got some nerve to talk to a teacher like that. Completely disrespectful!"

"And what about what that other guy, Dimitri, did? "Found the picture on the ground". Yeah right!" The other girl, Mindy, added.

"What do you think, Alexis?" Jazz asked her friend.

"Actually, I thought it was kind of cool." Alexis said, in a kind of dreamy voice.

"What?!" Jasmine cried in shock. "Them, cool?!"

"They could be," the black haired girl who's name was Mindy said. "If they had the talent to back up that talk maybe…"

"I think they just might," Alexis interjected. "Still, I won't know until I duel them myself."

Suddenly, some girls shouting caught their attention. They had wrapped themselves in towels and found Syrus being tied up by other girls. This wasn't good.

 _A short time later_

"A love letter from Alexis?" Mindy asked after hearing Syrus' explanation. After being seen, Syrus had been tied up and was know kneeling before the Obelisk trio, being interrogated. Jasmine and Mindy had changed into pajamas and Alexis into her uniform. "You've got to be kidding."

"Yep! Ask her!" Syrus replied with a giggle, giving Alexis a wink.

"Um, hello," Jasmine retorted. "Like Alexis is really tall, and you're really short. She's really good at dueling, and you're really not. She's really hot-"

"But it's true, just tell them, Alexis! I even have the note right here!" Syrus protested, pulling out the letter. "Look, see?!"

Jasmine took the note and the girls looked it over.

"Syrus, my name's not even spelled right there." Alexis said.

"Sorry, Syrus, but I think someone's yanking your chain here." Mindy said, but her tone said she wasn't sorry at all.

"So then you don't love me?" He asked.

"Hey, wait a second," Jasmine interrupted, looking over the letter again. "This note is made out to Jaden Yuki."

"What? Jaden?! But…" Before Sy could finish his protest, the brunette turned to him for him to see. Sure, enough, Jaden's name was at the top of the letter. "Oh. So, I can't even get a fake love letter."

"I'm sorry, Syrus…" Alexis apologized.

"Me, too."

"I don't buy it." Jasmine wasn't ready to let the matter go.

"What?" Mindy asked her friend.

"He could've written the note to have an excuse to come here!"

"What are you saying, that we should report him for trespassing then?" Mindy asked.

"But I was invited! I swear!" Syrus persisted, now panicking slightly.

"Girls, just what on earth is going on down there?" The girls looked up at the balcony to see Ms. Fontaine looking over the rail.

The brunettes worried, but Alexis took control of the situation. "Get down! Hurry!"

The girls pushed Syrus down and pretty much sat on him to hide him from view of the gym teacher.

"All right, what's up?" Ms. Fontaine asked suspiciously.

"You guys are heavy!" Syrus grumbled, squirming under the three girls.

"Beg your pardon!" Jasmine snapped.

"Maybe you're just brittle!" Mindy hissed.

"Gee, sorry, Ms. Fontaine," Alexis spoke to the Obelisk headmistress. "We'll make sure to keep a lid on things!"

"Well, I should hope so, it's nearly midnight, and I have pilates in the morning!" Miss Fontaine said before heading back to her room. As soon as they were sure she was gone, they got off of Syrus.

"So, what now?" Jasmine asked.

"I'll tell you what now, girls…" Alexis answered, crossing her arms with a smirk. "I say we use Sy here as a kind of bait to find out what we were wondering about before. Just how good Jaden really is. And I think I know just how we can get him to show us his best!"

 _Slifer Dorm_

At the Slifer dorm, Chumley was sleeping and Jaden was playing a handheld video game, which he was winning. "Sweet, 300 move combo!"

Jaden then got a knock on the door. He got up and answered, and found Dimitri there, panting hard since he had run all the way there.

"Dimitri, what's wrong?" Jaden asked.

"It's about-" he was cut off by Jaden's duel pilot beeping, sounding that he had a message.

"Hold that thought." Jaden said, looking at the message.

There wasn't a video, just static and a distorted voice. _"We have your roommate, Syrus. If you want him back, come to the girl's dorm, now. Alone."_ Then the message ended.

Dimitri paled at the message. ' _Too late!'_

"What happened?" Jaden asked, worried about Syrus.

"He went over to the girl's dorm, probably wondering into someone's prank," Dimitri explained. "He looked weirdly happy."

"Chumley told me the same thing," Jaden realized. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"I tried, but one of Chazz's snob pals got in the way and challenged me to a duel," The Ra boy replied. "I won, by the way."

"Aw, I missed the beasts in action?" Jay complained. "Give me details!"

"Later!" Dimitri interrupted. "Syrus is in trouble and whoever did this wants you too!"

"You're right," Jaden said, grabbing his deck and duel disk. "I'll go over there myself, you stay here and cover for me, until I get back."

"Got it, be careful." Dimitri told his brother. Jaden nodded and headed out the door.

 _Obelisk Girl's Dorm_

Back at the scene of the incident, in the lake, Crowler came up for air after hiding for a while. He was shocked at the fact the wrong Slifer showed up, and even more shocked when the girls started screaming that a boy was on the grounds. Knowing that he had to get away, he dove into the lake.

"You try to expel one kid and the entire world turns against you!" he muttered, before hearing the creaking of a rowboat to his left. He glanced over and saw the object of his misfortune rowing to the girl's dorm.

"You're a little late." he muttered again and moved closer to get a better look.

When Jaden got to main entrance, he found Alexis and her friends, now in uniform, waiting there with a tied up Syrus with them.

"Hi, Jaden…" Syrus greeted, glumly.

"Hey," Jaden replied. "So, what's going on here?"

"Well, uh…" The shorter Slifer explained, embarrassed. "To make a long story short…I'm basically a big loser."

"Your friend here trespassed into the girls' campus!" Jasmine said angrily. Jaden could tell she didn't like him, but didn't say anything to it.

"Hey, it's not like that!" Syrus interjected.

"And now that you're here, Jaden, you're trespassing, too!" Mindy added, ignoring Syrus and sounding like a total snob.

"That's right," Alexis said her challenge. "So if you don't want us to turn you in, you're gonna have to win your freedom by beating me in a duel right now!"

"But if you turn us in, we'll be expelled!" Syrus cried.

Jaden closed his eyes and sighed. He then opened his eyes looked at them with fierce determination. "Since you're not giving much of choice, then I accept. Let's duel, Alexis!"

Said girl gave Jaden an intense stare, which he returned.

The duel was going to take place on the lake with Jaden and Alexis each standing on a boat. Syrus was in Jaden's boat, Mindy and Jasmine were in Jaden's boat.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jaden." Syrus said, nervous.

Jaden didn't respond, he just continued his stare down with Alexis.

Crowler had gotten a little closer, but still far enough away that he wasn't seen. "Well, well, well. A Slifer versus an Obelisk! Put him in his place, Alexis!"

"Ready?!" Alexis called.

"Oh, yeah!" The hero duelist answered.

"Duel!"

Alexis: 4000

Jaden: 4000

"Get your game on, Alexis!" Jaden challenged.

Alexis's friends were watching in a mix of curiosity and disdain.

Syrus watched with mostly worry. "Here we go."

"All right! Let's see!" Alexis drew her sixth card. She looked over her hand and acted on a strategy.

"Etoile Cyber, rise!" A red-headed ballerina in an orange leotard appeared with pirouette (1200/1600). "And I'm also going to play one card face down!"

"Time to throw down!" Jaden said, starting his turn.

"First, I'll summon Elemental Hero Sparkman in attack mode!" The hero of thunder appeared on the late, in a flash of lightning (1600/1400).

"Now, Sparkman, attack with Static Shockwave!" The hero fired bolts of lightning at the ballerina.

Alexis growled. "Hold it right there! I activate the trap card Doble Passe!" The lightning stretched around Etoile Cyber and struck Alexis.

Alexis: 2400

Jaden: 4000

Jaden glared as Alexis explained. "Doble Passe changes your monster's attack into a to a direct attack on me! And now my monster that you were about to attack gets to wage a direct attack on you!"

"Great!" Jaden muttered.

"Oh, and when Etoile Cyber attacks someone directly, her attack points increase by 600." Alexis added.

Her monster danced and spun, and then round house kicked Jaden in the ribs.

Alexis: 2400

Jaden: 2200

"Jaden!" Syrus gasped, as Jaden clutched his side in pain.

"That Alexis is something else," Jaden murmured. "Sacrificing her own life points just to get at mine."

"So, you impressed?" Alexis asked.

"Very, and it takes a lot to impress me." Jaden responded, as he laid a face down.

"You're sweet. Too bad I have to crush you. Now then…where were me?" She drew a card.

"Ooh. I play Blade Skater!" A bald, gray-skinned woman with an ice skate blade on each wrist appeared, skating on the water before joining her comrade (1400/1500).

"And I activate the spell card Polymerization to fuse Etoile Cyber and Blade Skater together to summon Cyber Blader!" Alexis's now monster had dark blue hair and light blue skin wearing an orange and white leotard and a pair of futuristic goggles over her eyes (2100/800).

"Now, Cyber Blader, attack Sparkman with Whirlwind Rage!" The monster went into a spin and headed towards Sparkman. Her foot lashed out and destroyed Sparkman. The boys braced themselves against the wind.

Alexis: 2400

Jaden: 1700

"Well, there goes that defense." Jaden said.

"Way to go, Alexis!" Mindy cheered.

"Yeah, you got him now!" Jasmine added. "I knew when this kid beat Dr. Crowler it was just luck!"

From where he was Crowler was smirking at the turn of events.

"The duel's still young. It's anybody's game right now. My draw!" Jaden said taking his turn.

"I activate the field spell Fusion Gate! Now, I can summon fusion monsters without a Polymerization. And I'm gonna summon this one: Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!" Without a fusion sequence, Flame Wingman appeared on the field (2100/1200).

"Ok. It looks like it's going to be one fusion monster against another, huh, Jaden?" Alexis said, staring that the hero with a confident smile. "That's fine by me! Although, since they have the exact same number of attack points they're just going to destroy each other.

"Not after I play this, they won't!" Jaden activated spell card with three magicians performing a ritual of some kind. "I activate the equip spell card Mage Power!"

Flamewingman began to glow as his power increased (2100-2600/1200). "Now Wingman gains 500 extra attack points for every spell and trap card on my field!" Alexis growled.

"Now go, Flame Wingman, and attack Cyber Blader!" Flame Wingman charged at the other fusion monster.

' _Someone hasn't done their homework.'_ Alexis thought, not worried at all.

Flame Wingman's dragon hand made a fireball and went to fire it. But Cyber Blader managed to stop the attack and they forced apart.

Jaden growled, knowing what had happened, but Alexis assumed he didn't. "Cyber Blader's special ability makes it so she can't be destroyed by an opponent with only one monster."

"Yeah, I know that. This is why I played Mage Power, you still take damage!" Jaden explained, exasperated.

Alexis noticed a spark on her duel disk before it went off.

Alexis: 1900

Jaden: 1700

"Not bad, Jaden," Alexis drew her next card. "But it'll take more than that to beat me. I equip my spell Fusion Weapon to Cyber Blader."

Cyber Blader's hand transformed into what looked like a tri-pronged blaster that also increased her power (2100-3600/800-2300).

"Uh-oh. I think you might want to brace yourself for this one, Sy." Jaden told Syrus.

"Go, Blader! Attack the Flame Wingman with Trident Shock!" A lightning blast came from the transformed and destroyed Elemental Hero Flame Wingman. Jaden had to cover his face from the blow back.

Alexis: 1900

Jaden: 600

"Uh-oh. Your life points are looking a little low," Alexis teased. "Hope you didn't unpack your bags yet!"

"Yeah, because if you lose, you're both getting expelled." Mindy added in the same manner.

"We are?!" Syrus asked frightened.

"That's not going to happen, Sy." Jaden reassured.

' _Hmm. You shouldn't make promises you can't deliver.'_ Alexis thought, feeling like she's won.

' _I hope I'm not making a promise I can't deliver,'_ Jaden thought. _'The only card I have out is Fusion Gate. But there's still a chance for me to win. It just all depends on what I draw right here and now!'_

Jaden drew his next card. When he saw what it was, he gave off a smirk that Kaiba would have been proud of.

"Perfect." Jaden said getting a reaction out of Alexis.

"I play the Elemental Hero Clayman! Rise up!" The bulky hero appeared (800/2000).

"And now I activate Monster Reborn! So rise again, Elemental Hero Sparkman!" The armored hero reappeared (1600/1400).

"What difference will he make?" Alexis asked. "My Cyber Blader has way more attack points than them. Your Sparkman won't stand a chance."

"True, but with Fusion Gate's effect, I can fuse them together to summon someone who will!" Jaden explained. "Rise, Elemental Hero Thunder Giant!"

The two heroes stood back to back and started spinning. Lightning shot into the air and formed a vortex, the force rocking the boats and Crowler around. A large, yellow-armored creature with a blue center of electricity appeared (2400/1600).

"Hate to break it to you," Alexis told him. "But my Cyber Blader's attack points are still higher at 3600!"

"I know, but Thunder Giant's special ability makes him able to destroy any monster whose original attack points are less than his own." Jaden explained.

"Wait! Original attack points?!" Alexis asked to clarify.

"That's right," Jaden confirmed. "Attack points without any kind of enhancement."

"But, before I played fusion weapon, her attack points were only 2100!" Alexis realized she was in trouble.

"Exactly," Jaden confirmed. "Lower than Thunder Giant's, so your Blader is automatically destroyed."

Thunder Giant glided across the water toward Cyber Blader. When he reached her, he held out his hand and destroyed her with lightning.

"And here's the best part, he can still attack! And that's what I'm going to have him do! Go, Voltic Thunder!" This time electricity came out of both hands and hit the Obelisk queen, causing her to scream in pain.

Crowler wasn't safe from this, since we all know what happens when electricity and water meet.

Alexis: 0

Jaden: 600

"Alexis!" Jasmine said, worried for her friend.

"Uh, what just happened?" Mindy asked, stunned by what had happened.

"Yeah!" Syrus cheered, giving Jaden a hug.

Jaden looked to Alexis and gave his usual salute. "Alright! Looks like that's game!"

They soon moved to boats so that they were side by side. "A deal's a deal. I won, so we get to go free!"

"Ok, guys, I won't back out. We'll keep quiet about what happened tonight." Alexis promised.

"Well, if you ask me, I think we should turn both of them in right now!" Jasmine said, really wanting to snitch.

Jaden was going to say something but Alexis beat him to it. "Well, no one asked you!" She snapped at her friend.

"Alexis?" Jazz gasped.

"Jaden beat me in a duel fair and square, and that's all there is to it." Alexis reprimanded the brunette.

"Well, actually there might be more than that," Jaden said, getting the girls' attention. "You've got game, Alexis."

Alexis was surprised by the compliment. Before she could say anything, Jaden and Syrus were ready to shove off. "Later." Syrus waved timidly as they rowed away.

' _Even if I did win I could never have turned those two in.'_ Alexis thought with a smile as they left. ' _This place is a lot more fun with them than without.'_

' _I've never seen Alexis act this way before.'_ Jasmine thought, looking at the blond. ' _I wonder, is she actually falling for that Slifer?'_

Crowler growled as he watched Jaden's departing row boat. "Hmm! Lucky brat! He escaped this time, but I'll still find a way to expel him. After I find a way home." He then dived into the water to swim home.

 **Chapter done!**

 **Caden: Those two girls get on my nerves!**

 **Mine too. Anyway, read, review, and stay tuned!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, here we are with chapter 4.**

 **Wilma: It's test time!**

 **Sakura: Wolf doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the characters. She just owns her OC's and the idea. Also cards by Princessanime08 and Lightclaw's Shadow will also be used so creative rights go to them.**

Chapter 4: Raring to Go!

It was a few weeks after Jaden's duel with Alexis, and it was the day before test day. Dimitri was currently sitting Professor Satyr's class, finishing up another class and surviving another lecture. After the first day, students are split into different classes. Dimitri was happy that he had Bastion in this class, sadly he also had Chazz and his goons in this class too. As the class ended, the professor gave the class a reminder about the tests the following day.

"As a reminder to everyone, the promotion exams start tomorrow morning with Professor Banner. The written test will be similar to the entrance exams with 45 questions and 5 duel puzzles. There will be a 30 minute break before the field test, where duelists will be paired with others from their dorm in order to promote to the next dorm, or in the Obelisk's case, stay where they are. With that, I wish you all luck!" The class was dismissed and everyone was talking amongst themselves.

"I shouldn't have to take these exams," Chazz mumbled. "I'm already the best duelist here."

"You the best?! Hah, that's Zane's spot!" Dimitri recognized the voice of Jasmine, one of Alexis' friends. Not exactly a friend of his due to their first meeting. He thought that since she was a friend of Alexis, maybe she was nice. But all she said was, " _Get lost, Ra! I wouldn't be caught dead with a weaker duelist than me!"_

"She acted like I was asking her out on a date…" Dimitri muttered to himself, shuddering at that thought.

"It's Zane's last year," Chazz yelled. "Then I'll be top duelist in Duel Academy!"

"Ambitious character, ain't he?" Dimitri asked no one in particular.

"Alright there, old chap?" He felt a pat on the shoulder from Bastion, startling him.

"Yeah, just thinking about the exams." Dimitri said.

"Well, no worries," Bastion said. "You study hard enough, and the written exam should be a breeze! And your dueling skills are admirable, too. Just be glad you don't get paired with me."

"That a challenge, Einstein?" Dimitri smirked. "Time and place, and we can go anytime!"

Bastion laughed. "Anyway, shouldn't when we get to studying?"

"Oh, right!" Dimitri said, getting up. "Let's get ourselves to the library, and get reading!" Bastion laughed as they all left.

 _Sometime Later_

After a few hours of reading, the kids left the library and went their separate ways. Bastion was going to the card shack to get some new cards for their decks. Dimitri didn't understand having more than one deck, but after seeing Bastion's decks in action he wasn't going to argue. Dimitri was heading back to their dorm to get some food.

"Hey, Ra reject!" He turned to see Torimaki. "I've got a bone to pick with you!"

"Didn't I leave you lying in the dirt last night? Or do you and your machines want to take another trip through the recycling plant?" Dimitri asked, coolly.

"Ha, that was a practice deck to throw you off!" Torimaki boasted holding up his duel disk. "Now I'll show you my real skills with my real deck!"

"I'd take you up on that offer, except I don't have my duel disk on me, so…"

"Well, then I guess we have to do things the old fashioned way!" Torimaki interrupted, assuming a boxer's position. Dimitri was thinking this guy was an idiot, since Dimitri knew mixed martial arts.

"Try that, and I'll kick your butt into next week for hurting my friend." They were interrupted by the cold and deadly serious voice of a ticked Torrey who had a very scared looking Briar with him.

"What do want McLean?" Torimaki asked rudely.

"Man, I bet you never had a girlfriend," Torrey spoke. "I'm telling you to back off Torimaki, before I'm forced to do something I'll regret later."

"Fine!" The snob retorted, eyes traveling to Briar. "I'll duel the pipsqueak instead!"

"What?!" Briar cried, wondering we he was suddenly the center of all this.

"Fine, my friend will beat you just as easily as I did!" Dimitri boasted.

"Wait, what, why?!" Briar was obviously distressed and confused on the situation.

"Fine by me, as long as I get to stomp a Ra!" Torimaki declared turning his duel disk.

"You can do it, Briar," Torrey assures his friend. "Just focus on the duel."

"...Okay." Briar turned on his own duel disk. ' _Okay, Briar, you can do this. It's just your friends watching you, it'll be okay.'_

"Let's duel!" They shouted.

Briar: 4000

Torimaki: 4000

"I'll go first!" Briar said as he drew his card. He looked over his cards, and made three choices. "I set two cards face down." Two facedowns appeared at his feet. "Then, I'll summon Apprentice Magician in defense mode!" A blond woman in a purple outfit appeared in a purple flash. It consisted of a cloak, boots, and armguards. She also had a red headband, white belt, and a magician's staff that she defended herself with (400/800). "I end my turn."

"Briar's already putting up a defense." Torrey said to himself.

"My draw!" Torimaki drew. "I summon a spellcaster of my own, Lord of Dragons!" A man in white bone armor, most likely dragon bone, appeared from a dark blue light. He also had a blue cape that blew in the wind (1200/1100).

"A dragon deck?" Dimitri asked.

"That's right! And once I get rid of this Ra, I'll unleash them on you!" Torimaki said to the Slifer girl.

"Hey, your opponent's over there!" Torrey snapped. "Hurry up and make your move!"

"You're in a hurry for your friend to lose!" The Obelisk taunted. "I play the Flute of Summoning Dragon!" A bronze horn designed to look like a dragon appeared in LOD's hands. He began playing in a low tone. "I can now summon two more dragons to the field! So meet Spear Dragon and Luster Dragon!" Answering the flute's melody, two dragons appeared on the field. The first dragon was blue with tan stomach and a long nose. Its arms were its wings and it had two white horns on its head (1900/0). The second dragon was also blue but was covered in sapphire blue diamonds. It gave Briar a snarl (1900/1600).

"Oh boy…" Briar whimpered.

"Spear Dragon, attack with Cyclone Burst!" Said dragon shot a powerful wind blast that cut through the magician, bursting her to pixels. "And when it destroys a monster in defense mode, it still causes damage!" The wind blew over to Briar, who protected himself with his duel disk.

Briar: 2900

Torimaki: 4000

"I activate Apprentice Magician's effect!" Briar said. "When she's destroyed in battle, I get to summon a level 1 or 2 spellcaster from my deck to the field, face down!" He took a monster from his deck and set in face down defense position.

"Grr, well since it doesn't damage me, Luster Dragon, get it, Sapphire Flames!" The sapphire dragon unleashed blue flames at Briar's face down monster, which turned out to be another Apprentice Magician.

"Here we go again!" Briar said as he set a new monster.

' _He's playing with him, like I did the other night…'_ The Jewel Beast duelist thought.

"Your turn Lord of Dragons, Dark Spell!" The caped lord created a dark orb and flung it at the face down monster. Guess what it was? "Another Apprentice Magician?! She related to you?"

"I can only have three of one monster, but I still have a few monsters that fit the bill, like this guy!" He said, setting a new monster. "And since Spear Dragon attacked, he has to go into defense mode!" The long nosed dragon folded his wings in front of him and dropped to the ground.

"I end my turn with this!" A facedown card appeared at his feet.

"My turn!" Briar drew. "I activate my face down, Mystical Space Typhoon, getting rid of your face down!" Said spell unleashed a powerful wind toward the other side of the field.

"Not unless I activate it, Imperial Order!" The trap flipped up on Torimaki's side, showing a king ordering his men. "Now you can't use any of your spells!" The wind from the spell died down.

"Alright, plan B! I flip summon Old Vindictive Magician!" The monster that appeared was an old man in red robes, a blue cape, and carried a green staff (450/600). "And when he's flip summoned, he destroys one monster on the field!"

"You can't, my dragons are immune to card effects as long as Lord of Dragons is on the field!" Torimaki said.

"That's why I'm aiming at Lord of Dragons. Destroy his spellcaster!" The old man fired a green blast, destroying the dragon lord.

"No way!"

"All right!" Dimitri cheered.

"Now I sacrifice the old guy, to summon Chaos Command Magician!" The old man vanished and a blue mage in green robes appeared on the field (2400/1900). "Attack Luster Dragon with Chaos Magic!" A mage shot a red lightning blast from his scepter, shattering the dragon into sapphire shards.

Briar: 2900

Torimaki: 3500

"And I'll place a face down to finish my turn!" Briar ended.

"Good!" Torimaki drew. "First I'll stop Imperial Order's effect!" The mentioned trap card shattered. "Now I can activate the field spell Mountain!" The area around them change to look like they were surrounded by mountains. "Now, all dragons power by 200 points!" Spear Dragon flew up and perched up on top of one of the mountains (1900-2100/0-200). "But I'll sacrifice Spear Dragon to summon Luster Dragon #2!" The blue dragon flew off, deep into the mountains. In his place was a dragon that looked similar to the first Luster Dragon, only with emeralds. It roared happily, being at him in the current surroundings (2400-2600/1400-1600). "And I'll give him more power with this, Dragon Treasure, raising its stats by 300!" A blue aura appeared around the emerald dragon (2600-2900/1600-1900).

"Isn't that a little overkill?" Briar panicked a little.

"It's important to show off who's the superior duelist! Now take out his magician with Emerald Flame!" The powered up dragon breathed massive, green flames that torched Chaos Command Magician in one hit, and the rest of the flames conversed on the small Ra. Briar screamed at the sudden flames.

Briar: 2400

Torimaki: 3500

"And since you hate fire so much, Dragon's Gunfire takes 800 points away from ya!" The emerald dragon shot another fireball at Briar, causing him to scream again.

Briar: 1600

Torimaki: 3500

"I think I've done enough damage for now." The Obelisk said, pleased with himself.

"Get over yourself." Torrey growled.

"You okay, Briar?" Dimitri asked him.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" He straightened up enough to draw his next card. He grinned, and his friends knew what that smile meant.

"You're in trouble now, Blue Boy!" Dimitri said, playfully.

"I activate my facedown, Call of the Haunted!" Briar declared. "This lets me bring back my Old Vindictive Magician from the graveyard!" The old mage reappeared (450/600).

"So, what?" Torimaki shouted. "My dragon has way more power than that crusty old geezer!"

"I'm not done!" Briar said. "Now I play Magical Dimension!" A gold sarcophagus appeared behind the old mage. "I can only use this card when I have a spellcaster on the field. I sacrifice my magician to summon a new one!" The sarcophagus opened, sucking up the old man. "Come forth, Cybernetic Magician!" The coffin released a man in all silver with blond hair, blue pants, light purple robe, and silver staff with a hand guard (2400/1000).

"Bring it on!" Torimaki challenged. "I won't lose much after my monster's gone!"

"Yes, you will!" Torrey interrupted. "Or have you forgotten the second effect of Briar's spell?"

"He's right. Magical Dimension destroys a monster a monster after special summoning, so guess what's gonna happen to your Luster Dragon #2!" The sarcophagus reappeared behind the emerald dragon, and sucked it up.

"Hey!" Torimaki shouted.

"And, since that was a special summon, I can still normal summon this turn, and I pick Breaker the Magical Warrior!" A soldier in red armor wielding a shield and sword appeared (1600/1000). "And when he's summoned, I can give him a spell counter which gives him 300 extra attack points." A glowing blue symbol appeared on the shield (1600-1900/1000).

"Not again!" Torimaki cringed. "Beaten by two Ras?"

"Breaker, Cybernetic Magician, end this duel!" The silver mage shot the Obelisk with silver lightning, stunning him, followed by a swift slice from Breaker, knocking him down.

Briar: 1600

Torimaki: 0

"Game over!" Dimitri boasted. "And here I thought Obelisks were "all-powerful."

"Not the ones who got there via connections and money," Torrey added. Tormaki picked himself up and glared at the friends. "Last warning. Stay away from my friends, unless you want to get kicked around again."

Torimaki growled. "Wait 'til Chazz hears about this!" The blue duelist then ran off.

"Stupid Obelisks." Briar muttered.

"And you got to take them down a notch, Briar!" Dimitri cheered.

"Uh, thanks, Dimitri." Briar said, shyly.

"You did awesome, Briar," Torrey added his own praise. "You should be proud." Briar blushed, since he was usually really modest about his dueling skills.

 _Ra Dorm_

Word had spread around school about Briar's victory over an Obelisk, so he was treated like a conquering hero back at the dorm. Needless to say , Briar was embarrassed, in a good way, and Dimitri wasn't helping, telling the bystander's point of view in a dramatic fashion. Thankfully, Briar was able to slip away after dinner.

"Man, if Dimitri keeps this up, I'm going to have more Obelisks beating down my door. I'm happy that he and others are trying to boost my self-confidence, but bragging has a habit of leading to trouble." Briar sighed. He was so lost in his ramblings, he didn't see another person in the hallway until he ran into said person. "Oh, excuse me!" Briar said quickly, only to realize that the person he ran into was the same guy Dimitri ran into their first day there. "Oh, hello, again. I'm Briar." He introduced, holding out his hand, trying to be friendly.

The larger male looked at him for a moment, before returning the gesture. "My name's Beauregard." His voice was very deep and thick.

"Nice to meet you, Beauregard." Briar smiled. Beauregard also smiled.

"Say, uh, Briar?" The larger Ra asked. "Did you really challenge one of those Obelisk guys?"

"Well," Briar blushed. "It was more like he challenged me. He had gotten into a fight with one of my friends and somehow I got sucked into the middle of it."

"Oh," Beauregard understood. They kept talking for a awhile, and soon a friendship was born.

 _Obelisk dorm_

News had spread around the blue dorm, too. Though unlike the yellow dorm, everyone was giving Torrey a dirty look and muttering behind his back. Torrey got to his bedroom and wrote in his notebook for awhile when he hear a knock on the door.

"Wonder who that is?" He was surprised to open the door and find Jack and two other Obelisks he didn't know. One was on the large side with square glasses, and the other was a little taller than Briar, but still short.

"Hey, Torrey," Jack greeted. "These are some friends of mine, Andy and James. We were wondering if you wanted to study with us."

Torrey looked at them surprised. "You know if you guys hang around me, the other Obelisks are just going to make fun of you, too."

"Ah, who cares what they say!" James said without hesitation.

"Yeah, they're all talk." Andy agreed.

Torrey looked for a minute, before finally smiling. "I can be defensive at times, just saying." He warned, letting them into his room. They all laughed good naturedly.

 _Test Day_

The early morning was met by a fleet of ships, planes, and helicopters, like they were off to war. "Attention, all craft," The captain spoke to the crew over intercom. "I know it's been a long journey, fighting off mig intruders, taking on attack subs. It seems the whole world has tried infiltrate our defenses, but it's about to all pay off. We're about to reach our final objective with the payload safe! So full steam ahead, men! This is the moment we've been waiting for! The moment Duel Academy gets their new rare cards!"

 _At the Slifer dorm_

At the the Slifer dorm, the morning saw the Slifer boy sleeping in a little. Syrus on the other hand had been up all night doing some kind of strange seance.

"Please, please, please!" Syrus was sitting at the desk with candles lit and wearing a headband with three Monster Reborn cards in it. He seemed to be praying to a poster of Slifer the Sky Dragon, being the poster boy for desperate measures. "Please help me ace my exams today, or I'll be stuck wearing this red blazer forever. Not that there's anything wrong with red, of course! It's great on you, Slifer, but I wanna be in Ra yellow! Please give me a sign that you'll help!"

*Ring!*

"Slifer?!" Syrus freaked at the sudden noise before calming down. "Oh. It was just the alarm clock." He got up to go turn the blasted contraption off, which was right next to Jaden's head and somehow he slept through it. "And of course Jaden sleeps right through it! How can he be so relaxed when there's so much at stake?!" Syrus started shaking Jaden to get him to wake up. "Jaden, wake up! If you miss these tests, you'll never advance to the next dorm!"

"Wrong!" Jaden yelled in his sleep, smacking Syrus in the face and knocking him to the floor. "'Cuz I played a trap!"

Syrus groaned, sitting up. "Why can't he ever be dreaming in defense mode when I wake him up?"

"Duh, Syrus!" The blue haired boy looked up to see Chumley looking over the side at him. "You shouldn't be waking him up at all! Just think about it. After today's written test, we have our field test, and it would be totally lishus for us both if Jaden slept right through it. You get what I'm saying?!"

"Chumley, I never get anything that you say!" Syrus complained, sitting up a little more.

"Hello! The field test is where they pit class members against each other in a duel, and I don't wanna duel the boy who beat Dr. Crowler. So if we let the competition sleep in, then we make out. You get it?" Chumley explained, winking.

"Oh, I get it," Syrus glared at the older boy. "And I'm starting to get why you were held back two years." He turned his attention back to Jaden. "Jaden! Get out of bed! We're already late! I'll save you a seat! Hurry!" And with that he ran out the door.

Chumley watched him go. "Fine. Plan B it is."

Syrus was running fast to the main building. ' _OK! Cram time! Now let's see. A normal trap can counter a normal spell. A quick play spell can beat a ritual spell, and'_ He then comically tripped. ' _A double knot beats a single knot.'_

 _Ra Dorm_

Jaden wasn't the only one sleeping in. Dimitri was sound asleep in his room for two reasons. First one, he was not a morning person. Second reason, he had nearly pulled an all nighter studying so he was exhausted. Hence why he didn't hear two people come into his room until it was too late.

"Barrel Dragon, Tri-gun Blast!"

"Blast Magician, Blast Spell!" The next thing Dimitri knew was that his room was turned into a war zone. The blast was enough to knock him out of bed.

"Wah!" He yelled. "What in the name of?" Dimitri then got up and found a snickering Bastion and Briar standing there. "Not cool, guys!" The Jewel Beast duelist yelled, blushing in embarrassment since he had a habit of sleeping in his boxers, like he had that night.

Briar laughed, this was payback for the crush tease. "Sorry, but it was either this or a cold bucket of water."

Dimitri growled. "Just get out so I can get dressed!" The other two just chuckled again, but left the room to the other boy. Dimitri went about getting dressed. He came down a few minutes later and had breakfast with the other two, who were joined by Beauregard.

"You ready for testing, today?" Bastion asked, trying to making small talk.

"I think so." Dimitri said, between bites of pancake, hoping he was.

"Don't worry, Dimitri, I'm sure we're all going to do fine!" Briar reassured, as they conversed over breakfast.

 _Obelisk Blue_

Meanwhile, Torrey was up at a timely hour and was now contemplating what to do about the slumber party still sleeping in his room. They studied so late the other three just fell asleep in the room. Torrey heard a knock on the door, and when he answered it, it was Cassandra. "Morning, Torrey."

"Morning," He greeted. "Mind helping me with the lazy bums I have on my floor?"

"Sure!" They went into the room and Cassie proceed to jump on her childhood friend. Jack yelled and lashed out at the sudden attack, kicking Andy hard in the side, who then jumped awake and rolled over on top of James who then started thrashing about to get away.

"Cassie! What the heck?!" Jack yelled at his best friend, who got off of him laughing like crazy.

"Sorry, James!" Andy cried, getting off his friend.

"Air!" The smaller Obelisk gasped, sitting up with a wheezing fit.

"Get up, you slugs!" Torrey called to them, heading for the door. "We still need to go get breakfast before we go take our tests!" He then moved to the side as Cassie sped past him with Jack on her heels, making threats.

"That was a heck of a wake-up call!" James commented.

"I just asked her to help me get you guys moving," Torrey defended. "I didn't know she had that mind."

 _Slifer Dorm_

"Man, that Chumley sure can cook! Wow!" Jaden was finally up and running toward the main building. As he made his way there, he ran past a heavy-set woman wearing a pink blouse with blue overalls trying to push a van up the hill. He skidded to a stop and looked back "Hm, to be a gentleman or to be on time? Well, seeing as how I'm never on time." He ran back to get behind the van to give the lady some assistance. "Never fear, Jaden's here!"

"Oh, thank you. You must be from the auto club." The woman replied, thankful for the help.

"Don't let the jacket fool, I'm just your average, good deed, guy." Jaden responded.

"Isn't that nice?" She replied, but lost her grip and the van started to move backwards. Thankfully, Jaden quickly put his strength into stopping the van.

"It would probably be nicer if I pushed!" Jaden said, pushing the van.

"Thank you."

"It's no problem, ma'am! Now I can skip the gym!" Jaden cracked with a smile.

"You're such a sweet boy." She said gratefully. "I'll remember this."

"How about next time we remember the extended warranty." Jaden said.

 _Test Room_

The others were working on their tests, when a commotion broke Torrey's concentration. He looked over to see Jaden had gotten into an argument with that Princeton kid and were causing a ruckus. This was starting to tick Dimitri off, who was trying to ignore it, and Bastion started to see it too. "I do wish Chazz would stop picking fights with the lower ranks." Bastion muttered, before turning back to his test. Dimitri had an idea.

"Hey, Briar?" Dimitri whispered, tapping him on the shoulder, causing him to turn around.

"Yeah?" He whispered, trying not to draw attention.

"May I borrow that extra pen you have, please?" The Jewel Beast duelist asked, putting on a polite face. Briar nodded, though he was suspicious, and gave Dimitri the pen "Thank you." He then turned toward where the commotion was and promptly threw the pen, hitting Chazz in the head, Briar sucking in a breath at what he just helped cause.

"Ow! Hey!" Chazz exclaimed, turning to glare in the direction the pen had come from.

"Will you shut up, Princeton?!" Dimitri yelled at the Obelisk, shaking his fist. "Some of us are trying to last to graduation!"

"One of these days, stunts like that are going to get Dimitri clobbered." Torrey muttered under his breath, Jack, James, and Andy wondering whether Dimitri was brave or stupid, Cassandra snickering under breath.

"Dimitri, please refrain from throwing things at the Obelisks if you can help it," Professor Banner tried to be stern, but his voice betrayed his amusement. "Jaden, please come and get your test." With a big smile, the Slifer went and got said test, and Dimitri went back to his own. Jaden got so focused on his test that he didn't see Crowler peaking into the room, watching his. "You may be able to skate your way through the written exam, Jaden, but when your field test starts, believe me, it'll be your biggest blunder!" He cackled.

 _After the test_

On the far side of the island, the commander and his crew had landed and were heading toward the school. After the test was over, Banner made an announcement. "Alright, class. The written exam is now over, so please walk, do not run, to get in line for today's new rare cards."

"They're here?!"

"Oh, dear." Banner muttered. As soon of those words were out of his mouth, a stampede of students rushed out the classroom. This left only Bastion, Briar, Beauregard, Torrey, Andy, James, Jack, Cassandra, Jaden, Syrus, and Dimitri, the others trying to wake the two Slifers.

"Chazz, Chazz!" Torimaki called to his 'boss'.

"The new cards are here!" Raizou added.

"So go fetch." Chazz answered, not even looking up from the paper in his hands. Like loyal dogs, the two lackies ran off.

"Hey, Torrey!" Cassie called over to her new friend. "You coming to look at some rare cards?"

"Nah, my deck's good as is. Thanks anyway!" Torrey declined, watching his new Obelisk friends head out.

"Say, you two may want to give some serious thought to waking up." Bastion said, shaking Syrus awake. It took a bit, but Syrus finally woke up with a startled yelp.

"Aw, I flunked, didn't I? I'm a complete failure!" Syrus moaned, anime tears going down his face.

"Sy, if they were grading melodrama, you'd get an "A"." Jaden cracked, looking up from the desk he was laying on. He wasn't actually sleeping, he was just resting his eyes.

"Hey, where'd everyone go?" Syrus asked, now noticing the empty classroom.

"That's what I was trying to tell you. The new rare cards have arrived today. Everyone's at the card shack." Bastion explained.

"What?! New cards?!" Syrus cried in disbelief. "Hey, how come no one told us?!"

"Because everyone wants the best cards for themselves to use in the field test." Briar told him.

"So why aren't you two getting some?" Syrus asked the Ras.

"I was going to, but I decided to give Bastion a hand in waking you guys up," Briar said. "Besides my deck's good as it is."

"I can handle what comes at me during the field test without them," Dimitri shrugged. "Besides, I'm getting some special packs for my deck in a few days."

"Please, one errant card, and my deck's delicate balance would be completely thrown off." Bastion replied.

"Mine wouldn't!" Syrus said.

"So let's go. I was going to see if there are any Elemental Heroes I don't have. Thanks for the tip, guys." Jaden said, heading out of the room with Syrus right behind him.

 _The Card Shack_

The two teens were soon at the card shop, only to see there wasn't a line when there should have been. "Where is everyone?" Syrus asked, surprised at how quiet it was before realizing something. "They couldn't have…"

"Run out of cards already?!" Both Slifers finished, Jaden mainly from surprise. Keeping calm, walked up to the counter to speak to the lady behind it.

"Excuse me, um, Sadie?" Jaden asked, looking at the girl's name tag for her name. "Are there any card packs left?"

"Of course we have some left. Just regular packs, though." She pulled a single pack. "Here you go."

"Um, I was kind of hoping for more than one." Jaden said, a little annoyed about the matter.

"I'm done for!" Syrus whined. "I slept through my written test. Now I'm going to flunk my duel test 'cuz I can't upgrade my deck!"

"So take the pack, Syrus." Jaden offered. "I just came to browse."

"Really? You'd give me the last pack that they have?" Syrus asked, amazed by his friend's generosity.

"It's cool." Jaden assured.

"But what about you two? I mean, what if…" Syrus started, but trailed off.

"What if what?" He asked.

"You fail!" Syrus finished, worried for his friend.

"No way, Sy," Jaden said with confidence. "I may fall down from time to time, but I don't fail."

"Yoo-hoo! Auto club!" Called a chipper voice coming in from the back. They turned, and Jaden saw that it was the woman from this morning.

"Oh, hi!" Jaden greeted the older woman. "You work here, too?"

"Oh, no, I don't work here. I own here! Cool, huh?!" Dorothy explained, winking like a girl who had everything.

"That's awesome!" Jaden commented.

"How do you know her, Jaden?" Syrus asked.

"Oh, I helped her this morning when her car broke down." The hero duelist explained.

"Here, I have a something for you." The card shack owner said, getting all three kids' attention. She looked like she had done something against the rules for good reason. "Just call it a thank you for helping me."

 _Elsewhere_

Chazz and his flunkies were in a different part of the school, killing time before the field tests. His friends had just explained what had happened at the card shack. "Then this guy shows up and takes all the new cards. I mean, every one!" Torimaki explained.

"So we couldn't getcha any, Chazz. Sorry." Raizou apologized.

"You know what's "sorry"? You guys, that's what," Chazz snarked, before turning to them. "But it doesn't matter. 'Cuz not one duelist here can beat me, no matter what card he has."

"Unless that duelist happens to be Jaden Yuki." The three Obelisks turned to see a man in a long black coat and hat.

"Who's there?!" Chazz growled.

"Someone who suspects you despise Jaden as much as I do." He answered mysteriously.

"That's the sticky fingers who took all the rare cards!" Torimaki cried.

"Cards? What cards? Oh, do you mean these cards?" He spread his jacket open, revealing rows of cards.

"Oh, now dat's style!" Raizou commented.

"Talk about havin' a card up your sleeve." Torimaki added.

The mystery man laughed. "What's the matter, Chazz? Don't recognize me? How about now?" He threw back his cloak and hat to reveal…

"Crowler!" All three boys were shocked.

"You know, you looked better all covered up." Chazz wise-cracked.

Crowler face faulted, but then straightened up. "Yes. Well, I have a plan that will make us all look better and make Jaden Yuki look like the cut-rate duelist he truly is. I want you to be his test opponent for his field test and to use these rare cards to be him."

"But we're not in same dorm!" Chazz pointed out. "They won't let me be his test opponent."

"They? I am "they". I'll make it happen! And you just make sure that you use all these rare cards to put Jaden in his place in front of the entire academy!" Crowler assured, before letting off an evil cackle.

 _Duel Fields_

Everyone was in the gym, where the practice fields were. Torrey saw that Bastion had already started his duel, as he made his way on to the field. When he got to his, he got a big surprise, in the form of Alexis Rhodes facing his. "So, I'm facing you Alexis?" Torrey asked to be sure.

"Yup. We never got the chance to duel back at prep school, so I want to finally face you in a match to see how good you are for myself." Alexis said, activating her duel disk.

"Fine then," Torrey smirked, activating his disk. "I'll let you go first."

Alexis: 4000

Torrey: 4000

"Thank you," said Alexis, drawing his card. "I play Etoile Cyber in attack mode." The redhead ballerina appeared with a twirl (1200/1600). "Then I'll place two cards face down, and end my turn."

"Let's see," Torrey said, drawing his card. "I summon Frost Dragon in attack mode!" A white bipedal dragon with ice-like wings, ice blue eyes, and a frozen arrow tail appeared in a snow flurry (1800/1600). "But that's not all. Now I use his special ability and summon Moonlight Dragon!" A moon symbol appeared on the field and then a white dragon with light blue moon symbols on its wings appeared from it (1600/1600). "Now, I'll have Frost Dragon attack Etoile Cyber with Ice Shard!" Frost Dragon beat it's wings hard and large ice shards went flying at the dancer.

"I activate my facedown, Doble Passe, which means your monster attack me directly in exchange my monster can attack you directly! Plus, my Etoile Cyber gains 600 extra points when attacking someone directly" The shards missed her monster and struck Alexis in the stomach.

Alexis: 2200

Destiny: 4000

Etoile Cyber then danced across the field as her strength increased (1200-1800/1600). She then spun and threw a roundhouse kick at Torrey. Being the karate expert that he was, he was able to perform the block for it.

Alexis: 2200

Torrey: 2200

"There's still my other dragon to contend with," Torrey reminded. "Attack, Moonlight!" The moon themed dragon took flight and dove at Etoile Cyber.

"I play my second trap! Compulsory Evacuation Device! Now, I can send Moonlight Dragon back to your hand!" Moonlight disappeared from the field.

"Then I'll end by setting two face downs of my own," Destiny said. "Then, I'll sacrifice Frost so I can summon his more powerful form, Snowstorm Dragon!" A blizzard picked up and Frost Dragon disappeared. When the storm subsided, a large white bipedal dragon with razor sharp claws and spikes and bat–like wings appeared (3000/1000). "And as long as this bad boy his face up on the field, you can't use any face downs."

"My go," Alexis said. "I summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode!" A small ballerina with pink hair appeared (1000/800). "I also play Polymerization, allowing me to summon Cyber Blader!" Alexis' signature monster appeared on the field next to the younger one (2100/800). "And since Snowstorm Dragon is stronger than Cyber Tutu, she can attack you directly!" Cyber Tutu did as her predecessor did and spun kicked at Torrey, who blocked the kick.

Alexis: 2200

Torrey: 1200

"I'll end with that." Alexis finished.

"My turn," Torrey said. ' _All right, deck, don't fail me now!'_ He looked at his card and almost laughed. This duel was his. "I play the spell card, Moon and Star United!" The picture showed Moonlight Dragon and an almost identical dragon standing face to face. "I send Moonlight Dragon and Starlight Dragon to my graveyard to summon Moon Star Dragon!" A white serpentine dragon with two heads, Moonlight Dragon and Starlight Dragon, and two pairs of feathery wings appeared (2900/2000). "And since I know about your Cyber Blader's other abilities, I activate Moon Star's ability and summon Starlight Dragon back from my graveyard!" A star symbol appeared on the field and a white dragon with light blue star symbols on its wings appeared (1600/1600). "Now, Snowstorm, attack Cyber Blader with Arctic Blast!" Snowstorm Dragon gave a deep breath and sent a freezing wind at Cyber Blader, freezing her solid before shattering.

Alexis: 1300

Torrey: 1200

"Next, Starlight attack Cyber Tutu, with Star Searing Laser!" The star themed dragon spread her wings and created a circle of stars. With a beat of her wings and a roar, the stars launched at the pink haired girl, crying out as she was destroyed.

Alexis: 700

Torrey: 1200

"Now, Moon Star, end this!" The last dragons breathed a breath a white fire at Alexis and finished off the rest of her life points.

Alexis: 0

Torrey: 1200

"Good duel, Alexis!" Torrey said, helping her up. Alexis smiled at her before leaving and Torrey went to where the guys were standing.

"That was awesome!" Syrus said.

"A good match indeed," Bastion praised. "We all won our duels."

"That's great, now let's see what the next match is…huh?!" He couldn't believe what he was seeing for the next match-up.

Neither could Jaden because it was his duel up next. "I'm dueling an Obelisk?" Jaden gasped. "And it's Chazz?!"

"That's right, Jaden," Crowler confirmed, since he was the one judging their exam. "Since you always talk such a big game, I pulled some strings for you so you got the challenge you deserve!" He pointed to Chazz. "So congratulations! You'll be dueling one of the top ranked duelists in the school! What an honor! I certainly hope that you were able to snag a lot of today's rare cards so that your deck is up to snuff!" Jaden could hear the sarcasm, and was tempted to say so, but decided to keep up the dumb act. "What's wrong? Aren't you going to thank me?!"

"Jaden's dueling Chazz?!" Briar gasped.

"They actually put a Slifer against an Obelisk?!" Cassandra asked.

"I've got a baaad feeling about this!" Syrus said.

"This is clearly a trap," Bastion said, suspiciously. "Only a cavalier fool would agree to it."

"I'll do it!" Everyone gasped at Jaden's voice and the duel starting.

"And apparently Jaden's a cavalier fool." Dimitri muttered.

"I heard that!" Dimitri face faulted, and the others laughed at his reaction. "All right, Chazz! Get your game on! Let's finish what we started at Obelisk arena!"

"Hmm, yes, and in front of the entire school, too, where everyone can watch!" Crowler mused.

"Yeah, watch you get slammed by me!" Chazz jabbed. They put their decks in their duel disks and turned them on.

"Duel!" Both boys shouted.

Jaden: 4000

Chazz: 4000

"No excuses this time, Chazz!"

"Bring it, Slifer Slacker!"

"Oh, it is brought!" Jaden drew his next card, when he heard a familiar coo sound. "Well, well! If it isn't my favorite furry friend." Jaden smiled at his spirit partner. _'Kuriboh, you're in for a treat! We're about to rain some serious skills on Chazz! Check it!'_ He looked over the cards in his hand and one caught his attention. "I don't believe you've gotten to chance to meet this Elemental Hero, have you, Chazz? Meet Elemental Hero Clayman!" A huge monster made of rock with a red dome for a head appeared (800/2000). "He'd like to make your acquaintance." Jaden smirked, laying a face down.

Chazz snickered. "Not after he sees what I've got planned for his! Don't think for that oversized pile of pebbles has a chance against me, Jaden, or against this!" He drew his next card. '' _Preciate the card, Crowler.'_ "Fresh off the presses, meet Magical Magic!"

"What's that?!" Jaden asked.

"A redo. All the cards in my hand that I don't want, I put back in my deck. Then I shuffle and redraw. Pretty cool, don't you think?"

"Wha?! How?! A rare card on the first draw?!" Syrus gasped.

"He must have been lucky to get some." Torrey commented.

"And it's a very dangerous one at that," Bastion explained. "Now, Chazz will essentially be able to pick exactly which cards he wants and which he doesn't."

"I haven't even gotten to the best part!" Chazz said, redrawing and showing Magical Mallet again. "See, Jaden, I got to reshuffle Magical Mallet, too!" Jaden growled. "So if I draw it again, which I just did, I can play it again and again! And that comes in handy when I'm looking for this! V-Tiger Jet! Sharpen your claws in attack mode!" A yellow tiger, shaped like a fighter jet appeared (1600/1800).

"Not one of those!" Jack said.

"And there's a lot more where that came from! Check out the magic of Frontline Base! It lets me summon another level four or below monster this turn! And I have just the one. I play W-Wing Catapult in attack mode!" A blue jet platform appeared (1300/1500). "And there's a lot more where that came from! Check out the magic of Frontline Base! It lets me summon another level four or below monster this turn! And I have just the one. I play W-Wing Catapult in attack mode!" A blue jet platform appeared (1300/1500). "Now merge!" Both flyers took off and then joined together, one on top of the other (2000/2100). "All right! The VW-Tiger Catapult!"

"A union fusion monster?!" James revealed, Andy gasping in shock.

The audience was impressed. "But wait. I'm not done yet 'cause he still has his special ability!"

"That's not good!" Jaden muttered.

"Gimme a break! Is this guy's turn going to end sometime this century?!" Syrus complained.

"By sending a card to the graveyard, I can force one of your monsters into attack mode!" Clayman was forced to stand. "So now after the Heatseeker Blitz from my Tiger Catapult, your life points are toast!" The Tiger Catapult launched its missiles at Clayman, but Jaden was prepared.

"I activate my facedown, Negate Attack! Not only is your monster's attack negated, but your battle phase is over!" Jaden countered, a vortex absorbing the missiles.

Chazz grunted. "Fine, I'll finish up with one card face down."

"Whew, that was a close one." Briar sighed. Beauregard nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, go ahead and finish up, because I'm just getting warmed up!" Jaden drew his card. "Speaking of which, here's a guy who can really turn up the heat! Elemental Hero Sparkman in defense mode!" The electric hero appeared, crossing his arms to defend himself (1600/1400). "Then, I'll switch Clayman back to defense mode!" The rock hero kneeled back down. "I'll end my turn there."

"Not much else he can do with all the new rares Chazz seems to have!" Bastion said.

"No kidding!" Dimitri agreed.

"It's just not fair!" Syrus complained.

Torrey narrowed his eyes. ' _I wonder… how did Chazz get his hands on those cards?'_

Alexis was watching the duel from another part of the arena. _'This is a complete mismatch! How can Jaden fight back if he doesn't know what he's fighting?!'_

"Ready for round two, you Slifer Slime?! Well, X-Head Cannon is!" A blue machine with two cannons on its shoulders appeared (1800/1500). "And, thanks to Frontline's magic, so is Z-Metal Tank!" A yellow tank like machine appeared next to X (1500/1300).

"So he does have them." Jaden grunted.

"X and Z?" Syrus said. "Oh, man, that can only be one thing!"

"Now I play my face down card!" Chazz said as his trap was revealed. "Call of the Haunted, in case you slept through that class, it allows me to bring back a monster from my graveyard and I choose…" A red metallic dragon appeared (1500/1600).

"No way!" Cassandra and Jack cried.

"It's him!" Syrus gasped.

"He has it!" Bastion confirmed.

"That's right! Y-Dragon Head! It's what I discarded with my Catapult's special ability," The new monsters flew up and locked on to each other, X on top, Y in the middle, and Z on the bottom (2800/2600). "And now I combine them all to create XYZ Dragon Cannon!"

"Now Chazz has two monsters out with over 2000 attack points each!" Bastion said.

"But wait, Jaden. There's more!" Jaden gasped. "Actually, less. Sure, they say two heads are better than one, but I have to disagree, especially when the one in question is the ultimate V to Z Dragon Catapult Cannon!" The two machines joined to form a new creature. It was made up of the monsters Chazz had and reminded Jaden a little bit of Transformers (3000/2800). "Makes your spark man look like a heap of spark plugs, huh? Or at least it did." Sparkman disappeared.

"Hey, my Sparkman!" Jaden said while the crowd gasped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, didn't I mention V to Z's special ability? He allows me to remove one card on your side of the field once per turn!" He chuckled. "And if you think that's impressive, just wait'll you see his attack, an attack that leave a giant dent in your life points, because when he attacks I get to choose your monster's mode, and you know what? I choose attack mode!" Clayman was forced to stand. "Which means not only will your monster be zapped…" The Dragon Catapult Cannon fired a lightning blast, Clayman groaning as he was destroyed. "But your life points will, too!"

Chazz: 4000  
Jaden: 1800

The crowd gasped. "Jaden!" Syrus called to his friend.

Crowler saw everything from a special viewing box with the chancellor. "My goodness!" He said with fake sincerity. "Perhaps Jaden can't play with the big boys, after all. I guess he's not as good as everyone thinks!" Shephard just stared out the window.

"Aw, what's the matter, Jaden? Having some test anxiety?" Chazz taunted. "Don't worry. It'll be over soon."

"No way, Chazz. I've got a whole army of powerful heroes at my command! This isn't over! It's only begun! My draw!" He drew his card. "I play Pot of Greed and draw two more cards from my deck!" He took his two cards and gasped when he saw one.

 _Flashback, back at the Card Shack._

 _"Now, I know said we were out of cards, but I did hide away a few for polite young students like yourself!" She pulled out a booster back and handed it to the young Slifer. "Maybe you can put them to some good use, when you're not fixing some old cards, that is!" Jaden was stunned, but gratefully accepted the pack._

 _Present_

"What do you think, Winged Kuriboh?" Jaden asked his little friend. The little fairy monster gave an agreement. "All right, let's do this!" Jaden smirked. "I summon Winged Kuriboh in defense mode!" A Kuriboh with white wings appeared (300/200). This got a reaction out of the females in the crowd and the guys were right in the middle of it.

"Aw, he's so cute!" Cassie was no exception to the crowd. Jack gave his childhood friend a look.

"And I'll add a face down and end my turn." Jaden concluded.

"That's it?! That's all?!" Syrus asked. "But all he's been playing is defense!"

"If Jay's got a plan, he better use it, and fast!" Torrey noted.

 _'I sure hope Jaden knows what's doing.'_ Alexis thought, staring wide eyed at the duel.

"All done, huh? Good, cuz now I cook that Kuriboh, and I like mine well done!" Chazz said. "There's about to be a fried furball on the field, ya loser!"

"You don't scare me!" Jaden argued.

"No big deal. I don't have to. That's his job!" Chazz retorted. "Dragon Catapult Cannon, attack!" A giant energy blast was launched at Winged Kuriboh.

"Once that Kuriboh's gone, Jaden will be completely defenseless!" Syrus whimpered.

"Secret weapon time!" Jaden sent his last two cards to the graveyard. "I sacrifice two cards to and activate…"

"WHERE DID HE GET THAT?!" Crowler cried.

"Transcendent Wings!" Winged Kuriboh's wings suddenly grew very large and acted as a shield for the blast.

"It can't be!" Chazz exclaimed.

"Oh, it be," Jaden confirmed, smirking a worthy Kaiba smirk. "Transcendent Wings has evolved Winged Kuriboh into a level ten monster!" Winged Kuriboh LV10 was about the same size but with a dragon shaped helmet and larger wings (300/200). "And it gets better, too! By sacrificing himself, Kuriboh destroys all monsters in attack mode and deflects their attack points back as damage to you! Kuriboh, why don't you show him how it works?!" The blast directed back at the machine it came from and was destroyed, taking three quarters of Chazz's life points with it.

Chazz: 1000  
Jaden: 1800

"Lucky punk." Chazz muttered, glaring daggers at Jaden.

"Lucky?!" Jaden asked. "No, I just have a habit of being in the right place, at the right time, to help the right people, which isn't you, Chazz, and that's a bad thing because with 1000 life points and it being my turn, all I need is the right monster, and you'll be finished!"

"Serves Chazz right. He could have won the duel with those two monsters alone," Briar criticized. "His arrogance is going to be his own undoing."

"Big time." Jack and Cassie said at the same time, and then noticed it. Torrey snickered lightly at it.

"Here goes everything!" Jaden drew his card. "I summon Elemental Hero Avian in attack mode!" The feathered hero appeared, shocking the spectators (1000/1000). "Attack!" The winged hero charged forward and slashed his claws across Chazz's side.

Chazz: 0  
Jaden: 1800

The crowd was stunned silent for a moment, but then they were cheering quite loudly. "Jaden did it!" Syrus cried happily.

"Way to go, Jay!" Dimitri cheered with the crowd.

"Yeah!" Briar added, he and Beauregard high fiving.

"Impossible," Crowler cried leaning on the glass. "Not with all the rare cards I gave Chazz. This simply can't be!"

"Rare cards? What exactly are you talking about, Crowler?" Shepard asked.

Crowler jumped when he realized he was talking out loud. "Uh, nothing! I have to go grade some tests." He quickly walked off. Shephard just laugh at his retreating back.

Jaden waved to the crowd that was cheering him before turning to the Chazz. "That's game, unless you want to duel again."

"Oh, we will." Chazz hissed.

"Hey! Jaden!" Syrus ran up to him with Bastion, Briar, Dimitri, and Torrey walking up behind him.

"That was well played, Jaden," Chancellor Shephard spoke over the loudspeaker. "Not in the history of our revered academy has a Slifer ever dueled an Obelisk during these exams. Jaden, not only did you hold your own, but you won. Your courage against overwhelming odds is inspiring. It is with great pride that I grant you promotion to Ra yellow. Good job!" The crowd cheered again.

"Ra Yellow?! You're the best, Jaden!" Syrus complimented, hugging him around the waist.

"I do my best." Jaden said with a humble smile.

"Good show, Jaden. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Ra yellow." Bastion offered his hand.

"And Briar and I will be the second and third!" Dimitri added.

"Thank you!" Jaden said, shaking his hands with Bastion and his two long time friends. The crowd cheered again and Jaden returned to waving to them.

Syrus watched with a smile and sad eyes. _'Aw, man. I knew Jaden wouldn't stay a Slifer for long. I hate to see him go, but I know it's for the best. Hopefully, we can still be friends, at least.'_

 _Slifer Dorm_

Later that night at the Slifer dorm, Chumley was talking over getting a new roommate after hearing the hero duelist got promoted.

"How's this? "Roommate wanted. No one named Chazz. Rare cards a plus."" Syrus didn't answer. "Hey, if you're not going to help with this, Sy, you should do something constructive like make me a grilled cheese."

"I just thought he'd say good-bye to us. That's all I wanted." Syrus said sadly.

"Hi, guys!" Both Slifers turned to see Jaden standing in the doorway.

"Jaden? Why are you here?" Syrus jumped out of the desk chair.

"I wanted to say congratulations on passing your field test, oh, and in case you've forgotten," Jaden smirked. "I live here! Sure Ra yellow sounded nice, what with clean sheets and lack of cockroaches, plus with two of my oldest friends there, but without you, Syrus, it's just not my home."

"Ohhhhhhhh! Really?!" Syrus jumped onto Jaden in a hug, crying like a little baby.

"Oh, come on. You're getting my jacket soaked!" Jaden complained, embarrassed.

"I thought I'd lost you forever," Syrus sobbed. "And now I'm never letting go of you!" It was at this point Jaden started trying to push Syrus off him, but he held strong. "Please, Jay, just a couple more hugs, huh?"

"It's not the hugs, it's the waterworks!" Jaden snapped, but starting laughing at some point. "At least red doesn't stain as easy as yellow." Everyone started laughing at some point, Jaden enjoying the time he had with the people he was starting to view as his second family.

 _Ra Yellow_

At the yellow dorm, Briar, Dimitri, Beauregard, and Bastion were celebrating too. Well, it was just the last three, since Briar went and took a nap after the exams were over.

"To us!" They said, clinking their sodas together.

"For our successful exam grades!" Bastion said.

"Showing what amazing duelists we are!" Dimitri added.

"Too bad Jaden decided to decline the promotion…" Beauregard.

"At least he's showing what Slifers can really do!" Dimitri reminded.

"Yes, can't wait to duel him some day…" Bastion added, mostly to himself. He then noticed the missing member of the group. "Say, where's Briar?"

The answer came from Briar himself. "DIMITRIIIII!"

Dimitri's eyes widened and then made a dash from the room. "I gotta go!"

Five minutes later, a very ticked off Briar burst into the room, his face covered in doodles. "Where is he?!" He hissed, looking ready to kill. Beauregard had his hand over his mouth, either from shock or from trying to keep from laughter. Bastion had his head down, also trying to keep from laughing. Briar then proceeded to pull out his PDA and call the other Ra. "Oh, my best friend in the whole world, wherever could you be?"

" _I'm not falling for that!"_ Came the reply from the other end.

"I will find you, and when I do, you will pay!" The tone was just as deadly as Torrey's can be.

" _Threats don't work on me either!"_

"It's not a threat, it's promise." The call ended after that. Briar then stalked out of the room to go find his soon-to-be-dead friend. The remaining two Ras busted out laughing shortly after.

 _Obelisk Dorm_

If you don't count Chazz, everything was good at the Blue dorm too. The four Obelisk boys and the lone Obelisk girl were all celebrating in Torrey's room. "Well, congratulations on us passing our exams!" Torrey started the toast.

"And to all of us being allowed to stay in Obelisk blue!" James added, Andy nodding in agreement.

"Which reminds me," Jack said with a smile that looked innocent, but Torrey could clearly tell it wasn't. "Oh, my childhood friend, I've got a surprise for you!"

"Oooh, what is it?" Cassie asked, completely innocent.

"Close your eyes."

"Okay." Cassie did as her friend asked, so she didn't see that cold bucket of water coming until it was too late. She screamed at the sudden downpour and Jack took advantage of her shocked state to get a running start.

"That was for this morning!" He informed her as he fled from the room. Cassie soon snapped out of her stupor and chased after her oldest friend, ready to kill him. The remaining boys looked at each other, before they started snickering and then all out laughing at what just happened. They didn't know that Chazz had heard everything from the other room, and was stomping down on the growing jealousy and longing he felt growing in his chest.

 **Well, there we go.**

 **Wilma: This was a long chapter.**

 **Michael: It was also kind of funny.**

 **Hey, I try.**

 **Nicholas: Nice play on Chazz there, I've gotta admit.**

 **Thank you. Anyway, read, review, and stay tuned.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Here we are with chapter five!**

 **Crystal: Watch out boys because we've got Shadow Game problems!**

 **Sakura: Wolf doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh GX or any of the characters. She just owns her OC's and the idea. Also cards by Princessanime08 and Lightclaw's Shadow will also be used so creative rights go to them.**

 **I may split this into two, just saying.**

Chapter 5: The Shadow Duelist Part 1

The Abandoned Dorm. A mysterious place on the island that is forbidden to be entered. It was once a dorm for the most elite of the students, now it stood empty, rotting from the elements and lack of care. It was probably a grand building a one point, but those days were long gone.

As lonely as the place appeared, one person would visit this place often. In fact, she was there now. Alexis Rhodes walked up to the building and stopped directly in front of it. She then laid down a red rose at the base of the fence. ' _Be at peace, brother, wherever you are.'_

 _The Next Day_

After class, Dimitri visited the card shack to see if a package he was expecting had arrived. It contained new cards for his deck. After the insanity that happened on exam day, he was eager to get some new cards. By luck, it had arrived that morning.

"Let's see what I've got…" Dimitri muttered as he searched the packs. "Oh, new monsters. These guys will be useful with the ones I already have." He skimmed through a few more. "Oh, new fields spells and traps. Now, we're talking!"

"New cards?" He heard Torrey's voice behind him.

"Yup, check it out!" Dimitri showed him the cards.

"Nice," Torrey said. "I know you can't wait to use some of those in a duel."

"Dang straight!" Dimitri grinned. "Say, what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Got a package coming from home," Torrey explained. "And I wanted to get some new cards. Wait here!" He walked off to get what he came for.

He was soon came back with two boxes, the one from home and the other was full of booster packs. "What's in there?" Dimitri raised an eyebrow.

"Clothes for the winter." Torrey said. "I'm sticking around for the break."

"Same here," Dimitri said. "Think Briar and Jaden are sticking around?"

"Most likely." Torrey hefted the boxes as they spoke. "Jaden because his parents are busy and Briar because he wants to miss the "doting on the younger sister" fest."

"Gotcha!" Dimitri gathered up his cards to leave. "Well, I'm gonna go back to my room. See ya!"

"Later." Torrey nodded as he left, then made his way back to his own room.

 _Obelisk Blue_

Torrey got back to his room and started going through the cards he got when he heard a knock at the door. He opened the door to see Jack and Cassandra there.

"Hey, Torrey!" Cassie said. "Mind if we come in?"

"Sure, if you want." The dragon duelist responded.

"What's in the boxes?" Jack asked.

"Oh, one's stuff from home," Torrey explained. "The other is cards from the card shack."

"Ooooh, mind if I look through them, too?" Cassie asked.

Torrey looked at her for a moment. "I guess so, but I call dibs on all dragons."

"Deal!" The Obelisk girl started helping herself to the packs.

Jack noticed a picture on Torrey's desk, showing a picture of what appeared to be a young Torrey with a man and woman. "Family?" He asked, gesturing to the photo.

Torrey's face sobered a little a the question. "Yeah." He muttered.

Jack noticed the change in tone. "Strained relations?"

Torrey sighed. "Dad's named Sam and he works in horticulture, mom's named Aisha and she's a singer, we're very rich, they're overprotective, they think my friends are bad influences, they sent me to prep school away from them, I rebelled, blah, blah, blah, you're thinking "This is why he's like this"."

Jack stared before speaking. "Actually, I'm thinking I have a whole new respect for you." All three friends looked at each other, before suddenly bursting out laughing for no reason.

"Thanks guys." Torrey said when he finally calmed down, sharing a smile with Jack.

"Anyway," Cassandra said, after she calmed down. "What are you planning to do this evening?"

"I was going to hang out with the guys at the Slifer dorm tonight, telling ghost stories." Torrey said. " You guys want to come?"

"Nah, I'm good." Jack declined.

"Yeah, horror isn't really my thing." Cassie said, still looking through the packs.

"Hey, save some for me!" Torrey joined her, along with Jack. They continued until the sun started to go down, at which time Torrey headed to the red dorm.

 _Slifer Dorm_

That evening, the Slifer trio, Dimitri, Briar, and Torrey were in the mess hall of the red dorm telling ghost stories, or at least they were trying to. "And underneath the full moon, I see a path that seems… abandoned!"

"Really?" Jaden was interested. "Then what?"

"Then, at the back of the cavern, I see a mysterious lake…So I go into look very carefully. And, under just the right angle of light…At the very bottom of the lake, beyond my reflection…I see a rare and powerful card. Naturally, I go to get it. But when I reach for it…An arm shoots out, grabs me, and begins to pull me into the lake! AHHHHHHH! HELP ME! NOT THE WATER! ANYTHING BUT THE WATER!" Apparently Syrus had gotten so into his story he thought he was in it.

"Oh, come on, water's not that scary!" Dimitri said.

"Huh? Dirty, swamp water…" Syrus asked. Briar shook his head. Syrus sighed. "Oh, you're right. Only a chump would be scared of that." He was unaware of Chumley cowering in the corner.

Jaden blinked before speaking. "Still, good story," He said picking up the Earthbound Spirit card. "Mid-level scares for a mid-level card." He then turned to the Obelisk. "Your turn, Torrey."

"Here goes." Torrey drew a level seven monster. "I have a story idea, but I'm not sure if it fits the level or not."

"Go for it, man!" Dimitri urged him.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid…" Chumley chanted as he came back over to the table.

"Yeah, h-how s-scary could it be?" Syrus asked, trying to mostly convince himself to hold it together.

"Alright, here goes," Torrey started his story. "It starts with a young man running through the forest, alone. Why you ask? His village was in flames, destroyed by invaders. He felt heartbroken, like his whole world was falling apart. But in the deepest, darkest corners of his heart, he also desired vengeance on the people who made it fall apart. As he ran, he found a dark shrine. The insides were lit by candles that made the walls look like they were stained with blood. He walked deeper into the shrine, when suddenly he felt a dark presence enter the room. He then heard a voice speak dark words of revenge, saying it could give him the power to do it. His rage growing with every word, he gave into the words. Shadows then shot out from nowhere and wrapped around the young man, who screamed in agony, like every inch of his skin was being burned." Syrus, Chumley, and Briar were freaking out by this point. "But the worst part was, that when the shadows cleared, _what_ stood in place of the man wasn't even human. What was there was a beast that knew nothing but rage and bloodlust. It was called the Night Demon."

"That was so worth seven stars!" Dimitri said, slapping him on the back.

"Thanks, what did you guys think…" The Obelisk turned to see Chumley hiding his face in his hands and Syrus and Briar were huddling under the table together, Briar blushing when he realized how close they were. "That answers my question."

"But for me…" Jaden drew the next card. "I hope I get a high level!" But the card Jaden drew was Sinister Serpent. "Oh."

"Aw, you lucked out." Syrus said, he and Briar getting out from under the table, the Ra having gotten himself under control. "You hardly have to scare us at all with that low card."

"All right… Well, I think I have a story that'll do the trick," Jaden said putting down the card. "Well, it's more like a memory. Back when I was a little kid, I use to hear sounds. But I'd only hear them really late at night…"

"Oh!" Both boys were more interested than scared.

 _Flashback_

 _A younger version of Jaden was sleeping soundly in bed, when the ghostly sounds of wailing and screaming roused him from sleep._

" _I'd think I was dreaming, but then…"_

 _Little Jaden sat up and rubbed his eyes, wondering what had woken him up, when all of a sudden, a bright light coming from a door leading to an adjoining room startled him out of bed._

" _They sounded like voices, but not ones I recognized."_

 _The four year old got out of bed and walked toward the door._

" _I would go to check it out…"_

 _He opened the door to find… nothing. The light had faded and the voices had stopped. All that was there was an empty playroom._

" _But every time I did… there was nothing."_

 _The confused little boy looked around and then noticed his deck case was on the floor, instead of on top of the toy chest, where it had been before he went to bed. He walked over and picked it up, something telling him that the noises came from the deck._

" _Nothing there at all- except my cards…"_

 _Present_

"And?" Syrus asked, both boys waiting for what's next.

"And that's the end of the story!"

"That's it?" Syrus and Chumley groaned. The others shrugged; story fit the level.

"But want to hear something strange?" Jaden added, his mind flashing to Winged Kuriboh. "Lately, I've started hearing 'em again."

' _I wonder,'_ Torrey thought, looking at the other two. ' _The rest of us have had the same things happen to us…'_

"HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!" Came a loud laugh. "Hey, I want to join in on the fright-fest!" It was Professor Banner and Pharoah.

"AAGH!" Syrus and Briar fell out of their chairs, Chumley went back to cowering in the corner, and Dimitri and Torrey sprung up from their chairs into fighting positions. Jaden was the only one still in his chair.

"You just did!" Syrus and Briar said from the floor.

"We're kind of on the edge of our seats here!" Jaden added.

"Or at least, we were…" Syrus muttered, getting back up with Briar, the karate brothers sitting back down. "But since you're here now, why don't you draw a card- the tougher it is, the scarier your story has to be!"

"Oh, well, that certainly sounds easy enough!" Banner drew a card. "Let's see here…"

"Whoa, that's a level twelve monster!" Jaden said.

"Get ready for nightmares, boys!" Dimitri said.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go to bed now!" Syrus said, quickly.

Banner chuckled. "What is wrong? Don't you want to hear about the abandoned dorm at the end of the island…"

"Abandoned dorm?!" Jaden and his childhood friends asked.

"Yes, no one talks about it, but there was once a special dorm set at the edge of the forest. It was shut down after several students mysteriously went missing."

"Really?" Torrey asked, always having had a curiosity for mysteries.

Syrus gulped. "Where'd they all go?" he asked.

"Well, that's the mystery of it," Banner replied. "But the rumor was that it had something to do with Shadow Games!"

"Shadow Games?" Briar asked. "That rings a bell to me."

"Thanks! You can stop now!" Chumley pleaded from behind another table.

"You see, kids, Shadow Games are duels played with powerful mystical items."

"Oh, yeah!" Briar remembered. "We learned about this in class."

"Millennium Items, right?" Jaden said, dismissively. "I've heard about this, but it's not true."

Banner laughed and adjusted his glasses. "Yes, that is what most people say. But I find that most stories… Well, they generally have to come from somewhere."

Pharoah yawned. "Well, I think that's my cue to get back home. Three of you should probably do the same." Banner left the room.

"Later." Jaden and Syrus said.

"You know, there is this creepy building I saw in the forest once…" Syrus mentioned of hand.

"Sweet!" Jaden said. "Then you'll lead the way for us tomorrow night!"

"Wha?" Syrus asked.

"Wait a sec- what do you mean "us"?!" Chumley threw in, surprising Syrus since he had come up right behind him.

"Yeah!" Jaden said. "It'll be fun!"

"We may even find some clues as to what happened to those missing students." Torrey added.

"It's an adventure!" Dimitri cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

"Yeah!" Jaden agreed, doing the same.

"Yeah, fun?" Chumley said, not all that sure.

"Aw, man…" Syrus moaned, wondering what exactly had he done, Briar giving him a similar look, like 'why did you encourage it?'.

What they didn't know was that Crowler had been listening to the entire conversation, and was now snickering as he devised a plan. "This is just the opportunity I've been waiting for!" he said excitedly. ' _I think it's time the Shadow Games made a comeback… Millennium Items and all!'_

 _In the city_

In a dark alleyway in Domino City, a duel was wrapping up with one of the participants completely scared. "Aagh! Ok, ok! You won! Please, just take anything you want and go!"

"What I want…" The metal masked man in a black trench coat and a duel vest like Crowler's said. "Is your soul!" He was holding a familiar looking inverted pyramid with an eye in the center and it was glowing.

"No, please, show some mercy-" The man begged.

The man just looked on coldly. "Some mercy? What is that?" The light then got brighter, the opponent screamed and fell over, some his cards scattering on the ground. "Rest in peace in the Shadow Realm!" He chuckled darkly. As he went to go make sure his opponent was finished, his cell phone rang. "Speak." The person on the phone spoke a few details. "Duel Academy? Tomorrow night? I'll be there."

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of town, in a hidden cave, were two people, one with a trench coat and a blindfold on and the other was woman dressed in a golden orange dress and a black cloak. "The boss wants us to go to Duel Academy to eliminate a threat."

"What's the assignment?" The woman asked.

"Two duelists on that island have rare and powerful cards that could pose a threat to him in the future. He wants us to go and either take the cards or eliminate the duelists." He pulled out two pictures of the their targets. "Which one do you want?"

"I'll take the one with the glasses."

"Then I'll deal with the other one." With that the two were off in a flash of light, the pictures falling to the floor, pictures of Dimitri and Torrey.

 _The next day_

The next day was a typical day for class, Torrey, Briar, Dimitri, Jaden, and Syrus were in class, giving it varying degrees of attention. Torrey and Briar were listening, Dimitri was nodding off, and Jaden and Syrus were asleep. That's what you get for staying up late telling ghost stories to the point you can barely sleep. All five were unaware that Crowler was peeking in on them again.

' _Sleeping through yet another class…'_ Crowler thought. ' _But you'll have a makeup lesson soon enough…A lesson in the Shadow Games.'_

 _The Docks_

Later that night Crowler stood alone on the docks next to the lighthouse, waiting. After some time, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see a man all in black standing a few feet away from him.

"So, you're the one they call the Shadow Duelist." Crowler looked him over.

"My opponents call me many things- But most of which, are are hard to discern through their shrieks of pure terror. But enough small talk, what's the job?" The tall man asked as fog appeared around them.

Crowler informed him of his work. "I want you to frighten someone so intensely that he leaves this academy and never comes back. Up to the challenge?"

"Of course." The shadow duelist replied. "I never turn my back to a challenge."

Crowler then for some reason tried to surprise the man by appearing on multiple sides of him, but the man seemed to always know where he was. "Hmm? Oh! My, my…You are good!"

"I'm better than good." He replied cooly. "And I'll prove it. Not just by scaring this someone. But by banishing him to the Shadow Realm!" The man, who was called Titan, seemed to move backwards through the fog. Said fog then disappeared, taking the man with it.

"Hmm. Well, all right, if you insist." Crowler said after he left.

Neither knew that they were being watched by our mystery duo from the shadows.

"Is this a joke?" The female scorned. "That man has no shadow powers whatsoever!"

"But maybe he can lead us to our prey…" The male said, they then silently heading in the direction Titan went.

 _Meanwhile, with the boys_

The boys were on their trek to find the Abandoned Dorm. Or, at least they were trying to.

"I mean, you could look at it as being lost…" Jaden said, trying to lighten the mood. "Or you could say that we've found a couple places where it's not!"

"How did I get myself talked into this?" Briar muttered, sticking close to Syrus.

"I keep telling you guys that if you don't want to come you don't have to!" Jaden reminded him.

"And we keep telling you that if one of us goes, we all go or none at all!" Torrey countered.

"I'm beginning to think all for one and one for all is highly overrated." Dimitri muttered, receiving an elbow to the ribs from the Obelisk.

"Anyway, we've been finding places for over an hour now, but then, I guess it could be worse for Sy." Chumley thought out loud.

"Huh? For Sy?" Jaden asked confused.

"Like how?" Torrey asked.

"Yeah, we could be near a lake of "dirty swamp water"." Chumley taunted.

"Very funny, but you were the one who refused to bathe 'cause you were scared of the bath water last night."

"Ew, is that what that smell is?!" Torrey asked holding his nose, looking disgusted.

"Well, maybe if Syrus cleaned the bath once in awhile it wouldn't be so swampish!" Chumley argued.

"That's your excuse?!"

"Not everyone has a private bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, Torrey." Dimitri half teased.

"Shut it, Dimitri!" Torrey hissed.

"Maybe if Chumley grew up and started to take showers!" Syrus argued back.

"Knock it off, guys!" Jaden called back to them, before turning his attention back to finding the dorm. His flashlight soon came upon a rose lying in front of a wall. "Hey, check this out!"

"Check out what's behind it!" Syrus said, because they had just found what they were looking for.

"The old dorm!" Jay exclaimed.

"And probably lots of ghosts, too!" Chumley whimpered, behind the other boys.

"Relax, guys. There's nobody here." Jaden assured them, but he was a little exasperated now. The others were about to agree when they heard the snap of a twig.

"Ah! So, what's that?" Chumley, Syrus, and Briar yelped.

Jaden turned toward the source of the noise. When he found was a certain female Obelisk. "Oh, hi, Alexis."

The three scaredy cats were clinging to Torrey and Dimitri by jumping onto them, causing the other two to groan at the unexpected weight.

"Alexis?" Syrus asked, when it registered who it was. "What are you doing here?"

Alexis frowned as she came closer to the boys. "That's funny. I was about to ask you guys the very same thing. Especially you, Torrey."

"Well, you see…" Torrey started.

"We heard about the Abandoned Dorm and wanted to check it out." Jaden explained for him.

"Well, that's not very intelligent. Don't you know that kids have a way of disappearing around here?" Alexis inquired.

"So the rumors are true…" Torrey muttered silently.

Jaden waved it off. "Aw, come on. That's just some urban myth."

"No, it's not. Believe me, I know. Why else would the academy make this place completely forbidden!" She told them. "They catch you here, and they'll expel you, Jaden."

Jaden then decided to get smart with her. "Yeah, sure, ok, so then why are you here?"

"I have my reasons, that's why!" The Obelisk queen snapped.

Jaden was shocked by the reaction. "Whoa, Alexis, no need to snap! We just came here to look around, but, hey, we'll stay out of your way, don't worry about it."

"Look, it's just that…" Alexis started, before stopping and walking a short distance away.

"Just that what?" Syrus asked.

"One of the kids who disappeared here…was my brother." She finished quietly.

The group gasped at the revelation. Jaden turned to the rose left on the ground. ' _Oh. That explains the rose…'_ They looked to see that Alexis was gone, probably having left after the explanation.

"If Alexis' brother really disappeared…then the rumors aren't just rumors!" Syrus looked at the old building again. "I say we go back, Jaden!"

"Yeah? Well, I say we go in!" Jaden replied, still determined to explore.

"WHAT?!" Syrus gasped quietly.

Jaden, Dimitri, Chumley, and Torrey were already walking towards the dorm, their flashlights lighting the way. "See you in a few, guys! Don't disappear on us!" Jaden chuckled.

"Disappear?!" Syrus and Briar looked around in rising panic before giving in. "Aw, wait up!" They called running after the others.

They were unaware of the fact that Alexis was still around, watching everyone leave. She's became worried as she watched Jaden going in the dorm. ' _I hope Jaden knows what he's doing…'_ She thought.

As she turned to leave, a shadowed man appeared out of nowhere, startling her. All that was heard next was short scream and then bats taking flight.

They also didn't know that the group was being watched by the mystery duelists.

"So, the fake did lead us to our targets, after all." The woman said.

"Yes, and I already have a plan to catch my prey," The man said as he walked away from the other. "How you catch yours is up to you."

 _With the group_

Back with the boys, they were checking out the inside of the dorm. It was just as rundown as the outside.

Jaden for some reason liked, it reminded him of the old treehouse in the park back home where he and his friends would hang out, only much bigger. "This place is sweet! You know, a little paint, couple of cardboard boxes, maybe a throw rug…and we could so totally move in here!"

"Huh?" Chumley asked, thinking his friend was nuts.

"I think it's going to need a lot more work than that…" Torrey muttered, looking around the place.

"What?! Are you kidding?" Syrus asked. "This is even worse than the Slifer dorm!" He pointed his flashlight at one of the walls. On it were many symbols and letters carved into it. "I mean, what's all this stuff on the walls?!"

"What the heck is all this?" Dimitri whispered.

"Do you think think it was something to do with the Shadow Games?" Chumley asked, looking at the markings.

"Jaden, don't stand so close. Are you nuts?!" Syrus freaked as Jaden got a little closer.

"Hey, I think this shows the seven Millennium Items. How cool…" He turned his flashlight towards another wall with a photograph on it. "And that shows someone I've never seen before."

Torrey moved to get a closer look as well. ' _He looks kind of like Alexis…I wonder, is this her brother?'_

As they were all looking around, Briar saw movement out of the corner of his eye. It came from a hallway off to the side. He moved away from the group to investigate. Once he was out of sight of the others, someone grabbed him and covered his mouth, making him drop his flashlight. The others turned when they heard a the clunk from the object falling to the floor. That was when they noticed they were missing someone.

"Hey, where'd Briar go?" Chumley asked.

"He was with us a second ago!" Syrus said, feeling panic build up in his stomach.

Torrey then got a look of 'uh oh' on his face. "Um, guys, it just occurred to me that we've broken horror rule number one: Never go into the haunted location at night."

That made everyone silent for moment. Jaden had gone to take a look after the noise, he came back with Briar's flashlight, but no Briar. "Houston, we have a problem."

Everyone looked pale after that. "Oh, this is not good, this not a good." Dimitri voiced everyone's thoughts.

 _With Alexis_

In another part of the dorm, Alexis woke with a gasp, finding herself tied up a coffin.

"Where am I?" She wondered.

A sinister voice laughed. "On a hook. Dangling, baiting your friends into my trap…"

"Jaden?! Torrey?!" She gasped. Then she saw an eye flash brightly in front of her. Then she did what most people do in this situation…scream.

 _With Briar_

Elsewhere, a similar incident was happening to Briar. He was tied to a pole, struggling to get free.

"Don't bother, those bounds are tight." A cold voice called out.

"Who are you?! Let me go!" Briar shouted.

"I'm a Shadow Hunter, and I have been sent to find the one who holds the Jewel Beast cards!" The voice replied.

"You leave my friend alone!" Briar demanded.

"You're in no position to make any demands, child! Especially not when I have this!" A gold object dropped to the ground in front of him. It looked like a staff with a gold eye in a circle at the top. "Now, stay quiet! I have work to do!"

 _Back with the others_

The remaining five teens were looking for Briar, when a loud scream ripped through the air.

"What was that?" Torrey cringed.

"That sounded like Alexis!" Syrus realised.

"Let's go!" Jaden shouted, running towards the hallway that was also the one where Briar vanished. They came upon a balcony to another room and Jaden shined his flashlight down to the lower floor. "Alexis?!" He called, before his flashlight caught sight of a card on the floor. He headed down the stairs for a closer look, the others close behind him. He bent down and picked up the stray card.

"This is Alexis' card." Jaden realized, when he saw it was Etoile Cyber.

"Well, there's only one way she could've gone…" Chumley pointed to an entry way across the room, most likely leading to the basement.

"Then that's the way we're going!" Jaden said. Before they could even move, another scream echoed through the building, but this one wasn't Alexis and it came from the upper floors.

"What was that?!" Chumley asked.

"Briar!" Torrey, Dimitri, and Jaden called at the same time, knowing their friend's cries anywhere.

"We've gotta go help him!" Dimitri said.

"Okay, you and Torrey go find Briar, make sure he's okay. We'll go find Alexis!" Jaden said.

"Got it! We'll meet up outside the dorm when this is over." Torrey nodded. The two boys then ran up the stairs and headed toward the top floor.

The Slifer trio then proceeded down the tunnel.

 _With Dimitri and Torrey_

The boys charged down the hall in the direction they heard Briar's scream. As they went, the floorboards beneath Torrey's feet, that were old and slightly rotting, broke, causing Torrey to fall through the floor to a lower level.

"Owww!" He groaned as he sat up.

"Torrey, you alright?" Dimitri called down to him through the hole.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Torrey called back, getting up. "You get to Briar, I'll find my way back up!"

"You got it!" The Jewel Beast duelist called, before Torrey heard his footsteps run off.

Torrey then proceeded to look around and realized he was in some kind of tunnel. "Okay, pick a direction, hope it leads to the surface." He muttered before heading to the left.

 _With Dimitri_

"Briar! Where are you?!" Dimitri ran through the upper floors, waving his light around as he tried to find his friend. He came to a door that had some kind of light coming from underneath it.

"This can't be good…" He whispered to himself, before he kicked the door in.

The first thing he saw was Briar tied up and a guy with a blindfold on about to gag him. "Hey!" The man turned to reveal what he looked like; he wore a black cloak and a blindfold and had short silvery-gray hair. He looked no older than Dimitri himself was.

"Dimitri!" Briar said, happy his friend had come to his rescue.

The cloaked man smirked. "Well, well, so the little fly flew into the spider's web."

"Let him go!" Dimitri demanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." The guy said. "I am Black Flame; I have been sent by my master to make sure that the Jewel Beasts don't become a threat to him. So, you can either be smart and give them to me, or there's option two where I face you in a Shadow Game."

"You know which option I take," Dimitri growled. "The Jewel Beasts will never be yours!"

"We'll see about that!" Black Flame smirked, and pulled out the item Briar had seen earlier. It started to glow and then they were all surrounded by thick black fog.

"What the-!"

"The game of darkness has begun!" Black Flame revealed his duel disk, that was black with the card slots designed like bright orange flames.

"Game on!" Dimitri activated his duel disk, hoping the fear wasn't in his voice.

 _With the Slifer trio_

The Slifer boys were still in the tunnel, calling for Alexis, hoping to get another response from her. They soon came to the end of the tunnel and into a large, strange room, that looked like some kind of arena. On the far side of the room was Alexis, lying motionless in a coffin.

"Alexis!" Jaden called to her, but got no answer.

That was when a dark laugh was heard through the room, as fog began to appear. "She can't hear you…She's far away, locked in the Shadow Realm!"

"Who's there?" The hero duelist demanded.

A tall figure in black seemed to appear by rising out of the fog, scaring the other two half out of their wits. "Your worst nightmare come true."

"Oh, give me a break." Jaden said sarcastically.

"Then let me prove it to you…in a Shadow Game!" Titan declared.

"We gotta get Alexis back!" Syrus said.

"Yeah, hand her over right now or you'll regret it!" Jaden demanded.

Titan just stared at them. ""The only way I will free here is if you beat me in a Shadow Game."

"He's not looking at me, is he?" Chumley asked.

Jaden stepped forward. "Look, I'm not afraid of dueling you, but Shadow Games don't exist!"

"The other didn't believe in the Shadow Games either…but they were soon convinced." The shadow duelist said, darkly. "For, you see, when you lose in a Shadow Game, you don't just pay with your life points…you pay with your soul."

"So, you're the one behind all the disappearances! Well, you're not getting us- Especially Alexis!" Jaden swore.

"Unless you win, she's mine forever- As will you be!" Titan sneered.

Jaden growled, trading his flashlight for the duel disk Chumley had. "All right, get your game on!"

Titan activated his own duel disk. "Shadow Game, this is!"

"Just hang on, Alexis, I'll get you out." Jaden looked at his friend, before turning back to the field.

"Duel!"

 _With Torrey_

Torrey was looking through the tunnel he stuck in, trying to find the way out. He soon came upon a room off to the side. It seemed empty and covered in dust. Looking closer though, he saw that there were several files on the floor in there.

"Now what's all this?" Torrey muttered. He picked up one of the files and the name on the front caught his attention. Atticus Rhodes.

"This is a file on Alexis' brother!" Torrey gasped. He looked at the other files on the floor. "Are these files on the other missing students?"

"Well, well, looks like the cat has found a little mouse."

Torrey jumped and spun around to a see a young woman standing there, looking about his age. She was dressed in a golden orange tube dress, and a long black cloak with a hood covering most of her head.

"Who are you!?" Torrey demanded.

"I'm Medea, a Shadow Hunter, and I have come for the Legendary Dragons."

Torrey's blood went cold. The Legendary Dragons were a set of dragons that were really rare and powerful. Torrey didn't use them in his regular duels as a way to keep them hidden, and the only people who knew about them were his friends. So, how did this woman know about them?

"I don't know how you could possibly know about those cards, lady, but I won't let you take them! Their power will never yours!"

"Then I will have to take them from you by force!" Medea sneered, a gold earring with a single on it started glowing, and black dome appeared around.

"What in the world?!" Torrey gasped.

"This is a Shadow Game. This doesn't end until one of us drops." Medea explained, as she activated her duel disk, that was black and had tray shaped like a scythe.

Torrey gritted his teeth and activated his duel disk. This was no longer a matter of finding answers on the missing students, it was a matter of getting out of there alive.

 **Cliffhanger! Please don't kill me.**

 **Antonio: The duels will be next time.**

 **And since I'm on summer break, hopefully there will be more updates, and maybe make some new stories, too. Anyway, read, review, and stay tuned.**


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